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1 


















4he 

HEAVEN ON THE SEA 

AND OTHER STORIES 

TOGETHER WITH 

TWENTY POEMS 

BY 

SULAMITH ISH-KISHOR-' 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

PENINA ISH^KISHOR / 



NEW YORK 

BLOCH PUBLISHING COMPANY 

“THE JEWISH BOOK CONCERN” 

1924 







COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY 
Bloch Publishing Company 


« 


f 


4 ) 




' -i 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


JUL 


29 1924 

■ '©'CU800204'- 



TO 

MRS. SOLOMON SCHECHTER 

WITH THE AFFECTION AND 
GRATITUDE OF THE AUTHOR 



PREFACE 

Less than twenty years ago, it was the custom—at least 
so far as I know—to make religion and nationalism seem 
very severe, very solemn, and not to be considered with a 
light heart, but only in a spirit of gloomy devotion. 

Children of today are more fortunate. Fairy-tales and 
legends and delectable stories of all kinds are being written 
and re-written, with the aim of creating a spontaneous 
interest in the life-history of the Jewish people. 

The present little volume is only one of many, and 
there is no doubt that more will be forthcoming from 
many different pens. If only the readers will enjoy this 
book as much as did the writer, they will have a delight¬ 
ful time! 

It is only fair to say that some of the stories are based 
on legends, and some on historical incidents; the rest are 
original. Dr. Louis Ginzberg^s “Legends of the Jews” 
and Graetz^s History of the Jews are the most important 
sources. 


New York, March, 1924. 


S. I-K. 


The author desires to acknowledge the courtesy of 
The Jewish Childs Young Israel, The Young Judean, the 
Women^s League of the United Synagogue of America, 
etc., in permitting the reprinting of material included in 
this book. 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

The Heaven on the Sea.13 

The Demon King.23 

How Bennie Went to Look for the New Year 31 

The Death of Moses.39 

The Two Brothers.45 

The Wonderful Man.52 

At the Beginning of the World .... 57 

The Treasure Across the Sea.63 

The Firstfruits to God.83 

The Pious Woodcutter.91 

The Sabbath Pearls .loi 

The Leviathan and the Fox.11S 

All Silk.122 

The Wages of Repentance.130 

A Legend of Moses.140 

Why the Cat and the Dog Are Not Friends . 145 

The Rabbi of Tortosa.153 

The Field of Brotherly Love.165 

In Noah's Ark.172 

The Succoth Bough.179 

POEMS 

Mountains.12 

The Stars.21 

My Star.3° 

^‘Next Year".38 

The New Year of the Trees. 43 

In Synagog .Si 























8 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Sabbath Thought.5 6 

Sun-Time.62 

For Hebrew School Children . . . . . 82 

The Sabbath-Kugel.90 

Stars and Candles.99 

A Wish.113 

The Prayer.121 

Sabbath Eve.129 

The Seder Dish.139 

Friends.144 

The Shield of David on the Synagog . . . 152 

Early Morning.164 

The Bezalel Box.171 

Star Children.178 














ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACK 

‘‘King Solomon, return, in the name of the 

Eternal One!”.22 

A huge form lay upon the edge of the sky ... 32 

The beggar walked calmly on.44 

“Arise!” he exclaimed in a terrible voice ... 64 

One star began to glimmer in the sky .... 92 

The rabbi stared at the seven bubbles hanging in 

the air.100 

The animals came as near as they could . . . 114 

“Escape?” exclaimed the rabbi.154 

They looked up and nearly dropped with surprise 166 
Bright daylight greeted him.180 


















THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 
AND OTHER STORIES 


MOUNTAINS 


Oh, many lofty mountains 
In foreign lands Vve seen, 

Stand frozen in the winter, 

In summer rich and green. 

Their peaks are white and mighty 
With never-ending snow. 

And down their great abysses 
The bursting waters go. 

Yes, grand they are and splendid. 
But strangers they become. 

Oh, Judah, when I think of thee. 

And the long, low hills of home! 


12 


THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 


“Come/’ said the great King Hiram of the won¬ 
derful old city of Tyre, “we will now go and walk 
through my treasuries to see if all is well.” 

His courtiers gathered around him and he de¬ 
scended his grand throne, and walked with them to 
the part of the palace where the king’s treasures 
were kept. They passed through great and beauti¬ 
ful halls and broad rooms, all hung with heavy tapes¬ 
tries and velvets, richly embroidered in jewels with 
verses praising King Hiram and with pictures show¬ 
ing how he had conquered his enemies. And 
Hiram’s eyes sparkled and his chest heaved with 
pride as he read them, and his courtiers added soft 
words of flattery in his ears. 

At last they came to the treasuries; here were a 
thousand rooms filled to their lofty ceilings with 
piles of gold and silver coins, with great sparkling 
jewels and crowns, and golden scepters, bracelets, 
rings, chains of gems, and precious robes taken from 
captured kings and chiefs. And at every proud 
step the king took the courtiers exclaimed, “Lo, what 
a great king is ours! All these riches are his, and 
all these kings and chiefs he alone conquered! 

13 


14 TEE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 


Truly, our king is like a god!” And Hiram heard 
their words and thought to himself, “Yes, indeed, I 
am truly like a god!” 

Now Belrah, the king^s favorite courtier, had only 
lately come to the court, but everyone was already 
fascinated by him, for he was so beautiful and 
dressed so splendidly and was so clever that he 
actually seemed almost able to read one’s thoughts. 
And just as if he had read Hiram’s thought, he ex¬ 
claimed, “Great king, thou art so like a god that 
there is but a step between thee and divinity!” 

“A step, didst thou say? No, there shall be no 
step at all! I shall be a god! And I hereby declare 
to all of you, that I am no more only a king, but 
a god!” 

“Well said!” cried Belrah. “Now I will go forth 
and proclaim to the people, and they shall build 
temples to thee and pray to thee!” 

And thus it actually came to pass that the people 
prayed to Hiram as if he were a true god; some 
of the smarter courtiers used to come to him and 
pray for things which it was really in his power to 
give, such as riches, or a higher position, or the right 
to do certain things which the law of the land for¬ 
bade, and he would grant it, just to show he really 
was a god. But if anyone prayed for health, or 
wisdom, or any other thing which only God Himself 
could grant, they then had to pretend that their 


THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 15 

wishes had been granted, or else they were slain as 
traitors. 

The king grew more than ever fond of Belrah, 
for it always seemed, when Belrah was near, that the 
king’s powers really grew greater and almost like 
those of a real angel. Whenever he had any doubts 
as to what to say or do, Belrah would seem to 
read his thoughts and to give him exactly the right 
suggestion. 

Now the city of Tyre is very near the sea, and 
Hiram often went walking on the shore with his 
councilors and friends, all gorgeously dressed, with 
slaves attending them. One day as they walked, 
Belrah said piously to the king: 

^^Ah, your majesty, you are indeed a god, and yet 
you are not as powerful as the God of all things, 
for His dwelling place is all over the wide sea, and 
yours is but in a palace; He hath seven heavens, 
each grander than the one before, whence He sendeth 
the thunders and the lightnings; but you have no 
heavens at all.” 

The king bit his lips angrily, and his face grew 
dark, for he realized the truth of what Belrah said. 
But he boldly exclaimed, “Indeed, there is no reason 
why I should not also dwell upon the sea and have 
seven heavens to live in! And I will have them! ” 

Belrah’s bright eyes flashed with excitement, as 
he replied, “Yes, indeed, why should you not? I 
pray you, let me superintend the building of your 


16 THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 

heavens upon the sea, and before a year has passed 
you shall be the equal of any god!” 

The moment Belrah finished speaking, a heavy 
rain began to pour; the king and his courtiers 
scarcely had time to jump into their chariots be¬ 
fore they were soaked through. Only Belrah re¬ 
mained looking up to the sky, shading his eyes with 
his hand; he did not seem to know it was raining, 
till the king called him. 

That very week the building of the heavens was 
begun. Belrah stood all day upon the shore, direct¬ 
ing the hundreds of laborers, telling them where to 
drag the iron, the brass, the copper, the lead, the 
glass, the gold, which he had ordered to be sent to 
the shore. First there were placed four tremendous 
iron pillars, two on the shore and two in the sea; 
Belrah himself swam out and pointed out the safe 
places where the pillars might be placed, for the 
sea was not deep till about a mile from shore. When 
the pillars were placed, he caused them to be 
painted with gold till they were almost too bright 
to look at; then he caused a huge sheet of glass 
many yards square to be lifted and placed upon the 
pillars. One or two of the workmen remarked after¬ 
wards that one corner of the glass had struck against 
the iron and yet had not broken, but they thought 
that was because Hiram was a real god. 

And now the gold-painted pillars with the glass 
top stood by the shore. Nodding his head with satis- 


THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 


17 


faction, Hiram ordered work to begin on the second 
heaven. This time a great sheet of gold-painted 
iron, twice as large as the glass, was raised above 
the glass heaven by other pillars much taller than 
the first ones, and afterwards great heavy stones 
were brought up and placed on it, and their rolling 
about sounded like real thunder. The next heaven 
was still larger, and was of lead, the fourth was of 
brass, the fifth of copper, the sixth of silver, and the 
seventh, the largest of all, was of gold! And then 
when the huge work was completed, Hiram caused 
all his court to move to the sixth heaven, while he 
lived entirely alone on the seventh. It was mar¬ 
velous indeed how this dwelling place had been 
erected; to look at it, one would have thought it 
impossible for human hands to make, and so when 
the people saw it, and saw Hiram sitting all alone, 
in his wonderful jewels and gorgeous robes, in the 
seventh heaven, they thought he must be a god I 
One day, as Hiram sat all alone on his throne, a 
great wind began to blow across the sea; louder and 
stronger it blew, till the heavens of Hiram shook 
in all their pillars, and the boulders rolled about like 
dreadful thunder on the sheet of iron, till the king 
almost felt himself growing frightened. He had 
just about decided he would go down to the sixth 
heaven, where his courtiers were, when he saw 
through the mist an old, old man with white hair 
and beard, who was sitting beside him. 


18 THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 


‘‘Wh—^what are you doing here, up in my 
heaven?’' he managed to stammer, though he was 
frightened out of his wits. 

have come from a greater heaven than yours,” 
replied the old man, in a very deep, hoarse voice. 

Hiram trembled all over, but he managed to say, 
am a god, this is my heaven, and-” 

^Teace,” replied the old man. “In an hour thy 
heaven shall be blown to pieces and none shall see 
or hear of it any more. As for thee, go down and 
see what has befallen thy city while thou hast been 
here.” 

Hiram leaped up from his throne in terrible fear; 
the wind was crashing through the mock heavens, 
the pillars were creaking, the heavy rain was pouring 
and the whole sky burning with lightning. He 
rushed down the richly carved golden stairway to 
the silver heaven to find his courtiers, but they were 
all gone. The rain had swamped the place; jewels 
and ribbons floated about the floor, but there was 
no sign of any human being. 

“Belrahl Belrah! Where art thou?” cried the 
anguished king. But no one replied. Down through 
the copper and brass and leaden heavens, where the 
servants of the courtiers and of the king had dwelt, 
he rushed: not a living soul was there. Finally, 
he reached the glass heaven, and ran slipping and 
sliding through the water till he came to the hang¬ 
ing steps, and so to the sea. 



THE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 19 


In his heavy royal robes, that hung on his limbs 
and almost weighed him down, he went half swim¬ 
ming and half stumbling, to the shore; it was very 
dark, but no sooner had he put foot on land than 
the storm suddenly ceased; the wind sank, the sea 
grew calm, the lightning and the rain disappeared, 
and the moon came out. 

By its light he made his way up to the shore 
to the road reaching to the city gates where he ex¬ 
pected to find death and desolation awaiting him. 
But there at the gate stood the sentries as usual; 
only they laughed when they saw him, instead of 
saluting. King Hiram was very angry, and ordered 
them to take him within; they called a guard, and 
with this miserable escort of one, the king arrived 
before his palace. 

Everything looked just the same, as if the mock 
heavens had all been a dream; the courtiers were 
walking about the grand halls and laughing and 
chattering, just as if he were not there. He strode 
angrily through the great apartments till he came 
to the throne room; he pushed his way through 
the crowds and made for the throne. 

But here he stopped, and all his limbs shook with 
fear. Before him, seated on his own great throne, 
was another king—his rival, whom he had once 
driven back in battle, but who had now come and 
taken this city away from him while he had been 
dreaming his wicked dreams in the ''heavens.” 


20 TEE HEAVEN ON THE SEA 


The other king laughed aloud when he saw him, 
and exclaimed, ^‘Good! I knew I need not look for 
thee; I knew thou wouldst come so that I could 
imprison thee. Now, Belrah, I salute thy wisdom! 
Thou wert right 

And to his horror Hiram saw that the courtier 
at the king’s right hand was indeed Belrah, who 
had deserted him to help his rival. 

Belrah’s eyes flashed with a dreadful red gleam 
that Hiram had never seen before, as he replied, 
“O great king, give his fate into my hands!” 

^‘Surely,” replied the king, ‘^thou hast earned it!” 

The red gleam seemed to spread all over Bel¬ 
rah’s face, as he came down from the side of the 
king, and bowing mockingly to Hiram, said: “Come, 
King Hiram, with me, for I have worked very hard 
to obtain your company forever!” 

And with these words, a terrible crash was heard; 
the seven heavens were bursting to splinters, and 
showers of gold, iron, glass, lead, and all the other 
metals were pouring down the shore and the sea; 
the noise was unbearable. But Belrah’s voice 
pierced keenly through it: 

“I am Bel-Rah, Master of Evil; descend with 
me, thou blasphemer of God! ” 

A red light flashed all over the palace; the terror- 
stricken people shut their eyes, and the next moment 
Hiram had disappeared with Bel-Rah, who was 
Satan. 


THE STARS 


The sky has got so many stars, 
They come at night in crowds, 

And even when it rains, I know 
TheyWe hidden in the clouds. 

Yet though I love these stars so well, 
I donH know what they say; 

But the star upon my little flag 
Just speaks to me all day. 

It tells me tales of Palestine, 

And every noble Jew; 

So I love best my little star. 

Upon the white and blue! 


21 



“King Solomon, return, in the name of the Eternal One!” 
{Page 29.) 


22 























THE DEMON KING 


When the great King Solomon was bidden by God 
to build the Temple of the Jews, he was very happy 
indeed, and made up his mind to do it in the most 
beautiful way possible, obeying in every detail the 
commands of God. 

But he had one trouble; God had ordered that 
no iron tools should be used in building the altar, 
and Solomon did not know how he should get the 
stone from the quarry to the Temple. He called his 
wise men, and his scientists, and they all devised 
different kinds of tools of stone and wood, but they 
all broke when the workmen tried to use them. 

Now Solomon had once heard that there was a 
certain wonderful stone, called the Shamir, with 
which Moses had carved the names of the tribes on 
the high-priest Aaron^s breastplate. So he made 
up his mind to get the Shamir and use it to bring 
the stone to the altar. 

But how was he to get it? Solomon thought and 
thought, but he did not know where it was or who 
had it. So at last he called to him his chief man, 
Benaiah, and told him. 

^^Harken, Benaiah. In some hidden place lies the 

23 


24 


TEE DEMON KING 


holy Shamir which we must have to fulfill the word 
of God. Now I give thee this ring upon which the 
Holy Name of the Eternal is written. Go forth and 
discover the abiding place of the Shamir, and bring 
it back to me. Otherwise thou shalt be cursed in 
my eyes.” 

Poor Benaiah had not the least idea how he should 
find the Shamir, but he dared not say anything, for 
Solomon had a hasty temper. So he bowed to the 
ground, took the holy ring, and departed. 

He walked slowly through the beautiful gardens 
of Solomon, out into the streets of Jerusalem, that 
were beautiful and white, and went on and on till 
he came outside the city. He soon arrived at the 
edge of a great desert. So he bought a lot of wine, 
water and food, and prepared himself for a long 
journey. 

He had not gone far before he heard a strange 
jumbled moaning, and behold, right at his feet a 
funny little brown creature was wiggling around. 
It had two horns and a tail, and its feet were cloven, 
so Benaiah knew that it must be a demon. But the 
poor thing seemed so sick that he thought at least 
he would ask it what was the matter. 

The demon could not talk, but he opened his 
funny red eyes wide, and pointed to his mouth, and 
Benaiah knew he was thirsty. So he poured some 
water into its mouth. Immediately the demon 
sprang up, spread little horny wings, and ex- 


TEE DEMON KING 


25 


claimed: “Tell me, good man, what shall I give 
you for saving me from this pain?’’ 

“Give me nothing, only tell me where the Shamir 
is hid!” said Benaiah eagerly. 

The demon looked terribly frightened and said, 
“I will tell you, but you must promise not to say it 
was I who told you.” 

Benaiah swore not to tell and the little demon said, 
“It is in the keeping of Asmodeus, king of all the 
demons.” 

“And where can I find Asmodeus?” 

“He dwells on the great mountain at the other 
end of the desert, because there is a wonderful large 
well there from which he likes to drink.” And al¬ 
most before he finished the words, the demon van¬ 
ished. 

Benaiah, full of joy and confidence, went on his 
way, and after several days and nights, during which 
he never forgot to pray to God, he arrived in the 
shadow of the tremendous mountain. When he 
began to climb it, he kept his eyes open for the well, 
and soon found it. It was very deep and broad, 
and full of a strange sparkling liquid the color of 
ice rather than of water. 

He climbed down the mountain a little way, and 
by the help of the holy ring he bored a huge hole 
in the side of the well, so that all the water ran 
down into the mountain, and no one could reach it 
to drink, and to make doubly sure, he rolled a huge 


26 


THE DEMON KING 


stone over the mouth of the well. Then he took his 
wine, which was strong, and left the great leathern 
bottle open by the edge of the well. Then he hid 
himself. 

After a while, the air suddenly grew very dark, 
two tremendous wings, supporting a large and fear¬ 
fully ugly body, appeared and by and by the ter¬ 
rible Asmodeus descended upon the mountain. For 
a while there was silence, then a terrible roar of 
anger that made Benaiah shake in his hiding place; 
then the very mountain seemed to shake as 
Asmodeus tried to move the stone over the well; 
but it had sunk too far down to be reached. 

At last the sound of drinking was heard and then 
silence. Benaiah peeped out, and there, as he ex¬ 
pected, Asmodeus lay in a heavy drunken sleep, 
produced by the drinking of the wine. Very, very 
carefully he crept out, took the holy ring, and steal¬ 
ing up to the demon’s head, just managed to reach 
his forehead, which was more than a man’s height 
from the ground, and he touched it with the holy 
ring, exclaiming, “In the name of the Eternal One, 
blessed be He, you must obey this ring.” 

The demon jumped up from sleep in a fury but it 
was too late; he was forced to do anything Benaiah 
told him. And, of course, the first thing was to get 
the Shamir. 

Without a word the demon disappeared, and re- 


THE DEMON KING 27 

turned in a moment with the holy tool. But his eyes 
were flaming with a dull red fire of anger. 

Benaiah grasped the Shamir, and decided to re¬ 
turn at once. But he thought it was a pity not to 
show Asmodeus to Solomon, once he had captured 
him, so instead of letting him go, he bade him fol¬ 
low invisibly to the palace. 

Benaiah arrived while the king was reclining on a 
golden couch in his gardens, surrounded by many 
courtiers and slaves. He received him very pleas¬ 
antly and thanked him for the Shamir, but Benaiah, 
craving permission to whisper in the king’s ear, told 
him that he had also brought Asmodeus, the king 
of demons, to pay respects to Solomon. Now Solo¬ 
mon had seen demons, but never Asmodeus, and he 
was thunderstruck and a little frightened. He 
ordered his people to go away, and then he bade As¬ 
modeus appear in the form of a man, for he was 
afraid of the fearful ugliness of the demon. Then he 
spoke to the demon, bade him describe his dwelling 
place, and his wife, and heaven, which he had seen. 
Then at last Solomon said: 

''See what a weakling thou art in my presence, 
king of demons though thou art!” 

"Ah,” cried Asmodeus, "yet if I could but touch 
thy little finger, I could wither thee up!” 

"That is not true,” said Solomon, "for the ring 
protects me.” 


28 


THE DEMON KING 


“Ring or no ring, I can wither thee with my 
finger,^’ replied the demon scornfully. 

“Well,” said Solomon angrily, “touch my hand if 
thou wilt, thou canst not harm me!” 

Asmodeus leaned forward like a flash; he touched 
Solomon’s hand, and before the king realized it, he 
had torn the holy ring off his finger 1 

“Now,” he roared, “now, Solomon, depart! I am 
master and I shall be king of Israel in thy place!” 
And suddenly Solomon found himself on a highway, 
the center of a laughing crowd; he wore rags and was 
shouting, “I am Solomon! I am the king!” and the 
people were pelting and mocking him. 

Meanwhile Asmodeus took on the semblance of 
Solomon! No one could recognize him, although his 
actions became terribly cruel and his pride was un¬ 
measured; he never let Benaiah enter for fear he 
would guess what happened, but always kept a guard 
of twelve men around his couch. 

But Benaiah, who thought the king had suddenly 
grown to hate him, felt very sad. He wondered 
why he did not order the Temple to be built, now 
that he had the Shamir, but most he wondered why 
the king would not see him who had always been his 
dearest friend. So one night, while Asmodeus slept, 
he asked the guards to let him pass through to the 
king, and they consented, for they knew he had been 
Solomon’s favorite adviser. 

He crept over to the couch, and looked into the 


TEE DEMON KING 


29 


king’s face. It was indeed Solomon, he thought, but 
there was something so evil in his countenance, such 
as had never been seen save on the face of Asmodeus. 
And then the truth burst into his mind like a thun¬ 
derclap; he seized the ring off the demon’s finger and 
shouted: 

“King Solomon, return in the name of the Eternal 
One, blessed be He!” 

There was a blast of lightning and thunder; Solo¬ 
mon, pale and trembling, stood near the couch and 
the windows and walls cracked as the huge form of 
the fearful Asmodeus burst through them as he 
escaped. 

For a moment there was intense silence; then the 
voice of Solomon arose: 

“Praised be the Lord; blessed be His Name for 
evermore.” 

And Benaiah whispered “Amen.” 

And the next day they went on building the 
Temple that was the delight of the Jews forever. 


MY STAR 


Every day the sunlight dies, 

In the golden west; 

Of all the day, I think that time 
The pleasantest and best. 

The sun puts on a golden dress, 
Stars on its shining hem; 

One star, it seems to me, that comes 
From far Jerusalem. 

For every time it looks at me. 

It seems to want to say, 

*^0h, little boy of Israel, 

Why do you stay away? 

^TTs springtime in the Holy Land, 
And all is sweet and fair!*' 

Oh, dearest star! when I am big 
ril come and meet you there! 


30 


HOW BENNIE WENT TO LOOK 
FOR THE NEW YEAR 


It was a bright blue day and everywhere the Jews 
were happy and rejoicing. Plump women carried big 
fish home from market, their little boys beside them 
swinging fresh-killed chickens by their sallow legs, 
and their little girls skipping ahead with the market- 
bags full of goodies and wholesome food. 

Everybody’s face was shining; the little town it¬ 
self was shining, and the dogs barked in friskier 
tones and did not chase the cats. Everybody’s 
kitchen was clean and sweet, everybody’s father was 
getting ready for shool, and everybody, in short, was 
proudly and openly conscious that tonight was Rosh 
Hashonoh. 

The day wore on; chickens were cleaned and 
roasted, challehs were baked crisp and golden 
brown, tables were set and candles placed in their 
bright candlesticks all ready, like white soldiers, 
to guard the holiness of the evening. And the old 
year was slowly going out, and preparing the way 
for the New Year. 

The New Year! the glorious, fresh, sinless New 

31 



A huge form lay upon the edge of the sky. {Page 34.) 


32 




























BENNIE AND THE NEW YEAR 33 


Year, straight from the hands of God! Joy trem¬ 
bled on every face, as the night gradually ap¬ 
proached, the air darkened, and the white candles 
glimmered, waiting to break into light at the touch 
of a match. And how little Bennie hopped with de¬ 
light beside his father as they trudged cheerfully 
home from shool! 

Within the house, all was clean and prepared. 
They sat down around the table, and waited for the 
stars to appear and announce the actual birth of the 
New Year. The sky was shadowy, the trees along 
the street outside and in the garden, behind, grew 
very deep, dark green, and the wind blew cool. Yet 
no stars appeared. And Bennie grew impatient, 
and wondered what had happened to the three stars 
which the New Year was sending to proclaim it. 

Longer and longer Bennie and his family waited; 
the air grew no darker, the trees no mistier, and no 
stars came. 

Bennie blinked impatiently as his father, to pass 
the time away, began to relate a pleasant story of 
Jerusalem. He heard his father’s voice, but what 
was said made no impression upon him. And still, 
no stars. 

And at last Bennie exclaimed out loud, “Papa, 
what has happened to the New Year and the stars? 
Why do they not come?” 

But his father was talking on and on, and did not 
hear him. And Bennie felt he could not wait any 


34 BENNIE AND THE NEW YEAR 


longer; he slipped out of his chair, and very silently 
out of the door, into the back garden. And he ran 
over to the white rosebush, and spoke to it in a 
whisper, and asked it if it knew where the three 
stars of the New Year were hidden? 

‘‘No-o, no-o,’’ rustled the rosebush, and its three 
white roses glimmered like fairy faces in the dark. 
And Bennie went on and on through the large gar¬ 
den; oh, it was ever so large! he never had known 
it had so many paths, such hills and fields! And he 
traveled on and on. 

And at last a great thrill shook him from head to 
foot. What did he see in the distance there? A 
huge dark form lay upon the edge of the sky; it wore 
a crown of three great, grand stars, and its hands 
and feet were bound fast, and it could not move and 
ever and again it moaned. 

And Bennie ran very, very fast—it seemed as if 
he flew and never touched the ground and he came 
beside the great figure. Its face was very beautiful 
and the three stars shone like the sun, but its eyes 
were weeping. 

^‘What has happened to you, oh beautiful New 
Year?” cried Bennie, “tell me what has tied you so 
fast?” 

But the New Year turned his head away and 
would not speak. So Bennie sat down beside him 
and tried to fumble at the bonds, but they were too 
large and strong, and he could not loose them. 


BENNIE AND THE NEW YEAR 35 


“Tell, me, oh glorious New Year, tell me, what is 
binding you?” And Bennie felt as if he could not 
live if the New Year would not answer. 

But lo, it answered! In a great, soft voice like 
the voice of the sea on a gray, cool day, it replied: 

“Know that in my time it was decreed that the 
gates of Jerusalem should be opened, and the Jews 
should enter in. But the Jews have refused it; mil¬ 
lions of them have labored against it, not wishing 
to leave their comfortable homes and their business 
for the land of their holiness and glory; and every 
word which they uttered against their land is a knot 
in my bonds.” 

“What shall I do?” said Bennie. And the tears 
poured down his face. 

“Weep, weep!” exclaimed the New Year. “Weep 
and go forth and collect the tears of all your people. 
Every tear of longing for Jerusalem that every Jew 
shall shed tonight will help to melt these iron bonds, 
and I shall arise and bring my fate with me and the 
Jews shall return.” 

Bennie arose, and flew like the wind back to his 
town. First he came to his home, where his father 
was still telling his story, and all unnoticed he stole 
two bright tears from his father’s eyes and from his 
mother’s two more, and caught one that was just 
falling off his sister’s cheek. And the air grew 
darker. 

And all over the town Bennie roamed, and in 


36 BENNIE AND TEE NEW YEAR 


every house at least two tears were found. And he 
traveled on and on, and it grew darker and darker. 
And he put the tears away in his heart to be safe. 

And so he went through many and many a town, 
through villages and big, glaring cities, and on the 
ships that sailed on the lonely seas, and once he 
caught a golden tear that fell from an angel on high, 
and the burden of tears grew greater and greater 
till Bennie’s heart could carry no more. So he re¬ 
turned to the New Year. 

And he sat down beside him, and he took the 
tears out of his heart, and they rolled like burning 
pearls over the brazen bonds that held the New 
Year’s hands and feet and wherever they went they 
seared the bonds till they fell to pieces. 

And the New Year sprang up, and the stars on 
his forehead shone like the sun and they spread 
wings and flew far and high into the heavens and the 
New Year spread his great arms and flew after them. 

And Bennie’s heart was so light, as light as a 
feather, and he sped home faster than ever. But the 
New Year with its mighty joyousness was there be¬ 
fore him; when he slipped back into his seat, the 
candles were lighted and flamed tall and brave in 
their white uniform, and nodded at him. And his 
father smiled and his mother brought on the hot, 
delicious soup, and the challeh was already cut. 

^‘Come, Bennie! are you ready to eat?” exclaimed 


BENNIE AND THE NEW YEAR 37 


his father, laughing. “The New Year came while 
you were sleeping.’' 

Bennie’s hand sprang up to catch a tear which still 
hung on his father’s beard, but then he remembered, 
and stopped. And he said to himself, “It was I who 
brought the New Year, but I need not tell them.” 

The candle-flames leaped up higher, and every¬ 
body smiled though they did not know why. 


^^NEXT YEAR^^ 


As soon as Pesach prayers are said, 

My father stops and lifts his head, 

And he and all the other men 
Sing loud, ^^Next year, Jerusalem!** 

But though that time seems always near, 
It never seems to he “next year!” 

And I and every other Jew 

Must wait until “next year” comes true, 

I think, if “next year** acts so queer, 

I*ll ask papa to go “this year!” 


38 


THE DEATH OF MOSES 


When all the mighty and beautiful deeds of 
Moses had been done, he was very old, and God de¬ 
sired to bring him to heaven to receive his eternal 
reward. But first Moses had to die, so God called 
His chief angels before Him. Then He said to the 
angel Gabriel: 

‘'Go down to the earth, Gabriel, and take the soul 
of Moses from his body, and bring it to Me.” 

But Gabriel felt very sad to think that Moses was 
to die, and tears of fire came into his eyes as he 
answered: “O Lord God, this soul is the greatest 
soul Thou didst ever create; I am not worthy to 
bring it, therefore send some other angel instead of 
me.” 

Then God spoke to the angel Michael, and bade 
him, "Go down, Michael, and bring me the soul of 
Moses from his body.” 

But Michael trembled, and answered: "O Lord 
of the Universe, this soul is too great to be taken by 
an angel, and I am afraid. Send, I pray Thee, some 
other rather than me.” 

So God spoke to the angel Zagzagel, and said: 

39 


40 


TEE DEATH OF MOSES 


^'Great angel, wilt thou go down and bring me the 
soul of Moses?’’ 

‘'O God!” replied Zagzagel. ‘‘In former times 
I was the teacher of Moses, and he was my pupil; 
how can I go down now and take his soul away?” 

Now there was no reply from God; the angels 
stood in glittering crowds before the Throne, wait¬ 
ing for the answer. Suddenly another angel ap¬ 
peared, and pushed hastily through till he came 
near to the Throne; his face was dark and red, and 
he bore a heavy sword in his hands; it was Samael, 
the angel of death. 

“Lord God of the heavens and the earth!” ex¬ 
claimed Samael. “Is not this Moses also made of 
the dust of the earth? Is he greater than Adam, 
who was made in Thy image, and whom I slew? Is 
he greater than Abraham whom I slew, or is he 
more than Isaac, or Jacob, or Joseph, all of whom I 
slew? Surely he shall not escape me if I go down 
to take his soul away.” 

And God was angry with Samael’s cruelty and 
pride, and He said: “How will you take his soul 
away? Will you take it from his face, for his face 
has looked upon Me, and bums with divine radi¬ 
ance? Will you take it from his hands? But his 
hands received the Torah; how could you touch 
them? From his feet? His feet have walked after 
Me upon the floors of heaven; how could you go 
near them? No, you could not take his soul.” 


TEE DEATH OF MOSES 


41 


But Samaers dark and dreadful face burned with 
pride as he answered: ‘‘None have ever before 
escaped me. Do but send me to take this soul, and 
I will surely bring it up to Thee.” 

“Go, then, and try,” replied God. 

Samael took his great sword in both his hands, 
and wrapped himself in terrible fires and red smoke: 
then spreading his dark wings so that they over¬ 
shadowed all the world, he flew down. And he came 
to Moses where he sat in his tent, and cried: 

“Moses, I am the angel of death; give up to me 
thy soul, for I have come to take it from thee.” 

But Moses felt in his heart that it was not the will 
of God that Samael should take his soul, so he lifted 
up his face and looked at Samael, and God filled it 
with the glory of His own countenance, and Samael 
could not bear the great light, and fell down on his 
face. Then Moses turned away, and Samael was 
able to rise; he sheathed his sword, and flew, more 
angry than ashamed, back to heaven. 

When he came before the Throne of God, he 
bowed down and said, “O Lord of the Universe, I 
did not bring the soul of Moses, for Thy glory 
dazzled me.” 

But God answered, “You cannot break your 
promise to Me: you have said you would bring me 
the soul of Moses; now go back and come not 
again without it, or thou shalt no longer remain the 
angel of death, but another shall take thy place.” 


42 


THE DEATH OF MOSES 


Samael was frightened; he flew down again, with 
his mighty sword in his hands. When he came to 
Moses in his tent, he lifted the sword and tried 
to smite him while his back was turned. But Moses 
raised his wooden staff, and struck the fiery sword 
down, and Samael was again defeated. Then he 
knew that it was not the will of God that the soul 
should be taken in that way, and he was ashamed 
of his pride and rudeness, and flew back. 

Humble and sorry, Samael confessed his sin and 
implored God’s pardon. And God pardoned him, 
saying, ^T did not intend that thou or any other 
angel should bear away this mighty and glorious 
soul; but I Myself will take it.” 

Then the light which was before the Throne of 
God disappeared, and heaven was left in utter dark¬ 
ness, so that not even the angels, who were made 
of golden fire, could see each other. And down on 
earth there was a deep silence, as though everyone 
were asleep; no one moved, or spoke or breathed. 

And God came to Moses in his tent, where he 
was sleeping; and He set His kiss upon his lips, 
and his soul came out through his lips, and was car¬ 
ried away in the divine kiss. So Moses died, and 
his soul entered into everlasting glory and peace. 


THE NEW YEAR OF THE TREES 


All the cool spring day I stayed 
Playing in the forest glade; 

Green buds glimmeredy insects darted 
Through the forest silent-hearted. 

Till at evening, suddenly. 

Came a change in flower and tree. 

In a chorus all the flowers 
Rang their bells in little showers! 

Happy tinkling filled the air. 

Buds upon the branches bare 
Broke and opened into leaves, 

And new roses sprang in sheaves. 

In the starry-bearning skies 
Brighter moonlight seemed to rise; 

Great oaks seemed to stretch and breathe 
In the darkness underneath. 

And I heard the trumpet-breeze 
Sound the New Year of the Trees! 

Then the flowers ceased to ring, 

And the breezes ceased to sing. 

Fast asleep the forest lay. 

And I slept with it till day. 


43 



The beggar walked calmly on. {Page 46.) 


44 





































THE TWO BROTHERS 


There once lived in Eretz Yisroel two brothers. 
The elder, Jabez, was a master weaver, and knew 
how to make the most wonderful rugs, and all the 
wealthy people came to buy from him. So he very 
quickly grew rich. He built a lovely house, and 
hired skillful workers to help him. But with his 
riches came hardness of heart and an unwillingness 
to help others, that made him very unpopular with 
everybody; beggars would run past his door in fear, 
knowing he was far more likely to throw stones at 
them than to give them food. 

But his brother Simcha was just the opposite. He 
was not very clever at anything, he could only work 
hard and steadily at his job of stone-cutting. He 
did not earn much money, but he had a very loving, 
good-natured wife, and three children with red 
cheeks and bright eyes, and so he was on the whole 
very happy, and when he had not enough bread for 
the whole family, he went without it himself and 
thanked God that he had three children to feed! 

Now it happened one day that the angel Elijah 
was wandering in the city disguised as a poor beggar, 
for he wanted to see how much real kindness and 
45 


46 


THE TWO BROTHERS 


friendliness the people of Jerusalem had. As he 
walked along the street where the two brothers lived, 
he began to feel tired, and thirsty, for the road was 
hot under the sun and the cobblestones hurt his 
feet. So he stopped at the handsome barred doors 
of Jabez’s house, and knocked. 

Sour old Jabez showed his head out of an upper 
window. One of his weavers had just happened to 
spoil a valuable rug by weaving in blue where he 
should have used yellow, and you can be sure Jabez 
was in a mighty bad temper. He looked out, hoping 
to see a new customer at his door, but when he saw 
only a beggar he was furious. With his black eyes 
snapping with spite he turned and grabbed a basin 
of water which had just been brought to wash his 
hands, and flung it straight down so that it broke 
on the poor man’s head. 

What was his amazement when the beggar, seem¬ 
ingly not noticing that he had been hit, walked 
calmly on while the basin lay smashed to pieces on 
the wet stones. Jabez hung out of the window with 
staring eyes, until his wife came by, dragged him in, 
and like the shrew she was, began scolding him for 
breaking the basin. 

Meanwhile Elijah walked on, angry and sore at 
heart, and determined to punish Jabez. But he grew 
so thirsty that when he reached the clumsy, dark 
little wooden house where Simcha lived, he stopped, 
and, peeping in, began to ask for a little water. 


THE TWO BROTHERS 


47 


But before the words were fairly out of his mouth, 
Simcha was eagerly drawing him in, his eyes spark¬ 
ling in his thin dark face and his mouth all smiling. 

“Dear brother, come in, come in!” he exclaimed. 
“Here is water to drink, and I will wash your feet, 
and my wife will serve you some good black bread 
and thick, luscious dates!” 

Elijah was so delighted that all the anger went out 
of his heart. He stepped in, and was given food and 
water, and his poor tired feet were gently bathed. 
When he had eaten and drunk and rested in peace, 
he exclaimed, “Now may God reward you, Simcha! 
The first thing you desire to do shall be blessed, and 
you shall go on doing it until you yourself cry out 
‘enough.’ ” And Elijah disappeared. 

“Rivkah, Rivkah,” called Simcha in surprise, “do 
you see, the man has disappeared.” 

“Of course, I see!” laughed Rivkah, his wife. 
“He is surely an angel and has given us a gift. Now 
the first thing we ought to do is to count money so 
that we may be rich.” 

“Yes, yes, but we have no money to count! I 
spent our last coin for dates and bread.” 

“Then run and borrow from Jabez, your brother. 
He will surely lend it if you tell him why. And 
remember to say nothing must count as a wish 
until you ask it, or you will lose the gift.” 

Simcha did exactly as he was told. Jabez at first 
refused the gold indignantly, and scolded his brother 


48 


THE TWO BROTHERS 


for his impudence in asking, but when he heard what 
it was for, he was only too glad to do it, on condi¬ 
tion that Simcha would pray to the angel to come 
again and give Jabez another chance. 

Good Simcha gladly promised, for he really wanted 
his brother to have the same good luck. He took 
the gold piece home, set it on the table and began: 

‘‘May I continue this action until I cry enough. 
‘One, two, three,’ ” and lo, there were already three 
bright gold pieces! “‘Four, five, six, seven’—” 
and on and or. till a great pile of shining coins lay 
before him! And because he was a mild and moder¬ 
ate man, he decided he had enough; he divided the 
money into four piles; three he put away for his 
children’s future, and the biggest one he reserved for 
present use. Then he began to pray for Jabez. 

Now Elijah was delighted with Simcha’s actions 
and he wished to grant his prayer, but he certainly 
did not wish to give any blessing to Jabez. So he 
made up his mind what to do. 

Meanwhile, Jabez had kept his eyes wide open for 
every beggar who passed, for he was determined not 
to miss the angel; and the people of the city were 
amazed at the sudden change in him. His doors 
were no longer barred, but flung wide open for all to 
enter and eat and rest; he fairly groaned to see the 
amount of food that disappeared down the hungry 
throats of the beggars, but he dared not turn anyone 


THE TWO BROTHERS 49 

away. And so he sat in his room and bit his nails 
and tried to smile. 

This went on for about a week, until at last his 
troubles were rewarded; the beggar whom he had 
driven away returned! How they ran to greet him! 
how they washed his feet! what luxuries they set 
before him, what a soft, silken couch they offered 
him, and secretly they sent servants to chase out all 
the other beggars, because now they were sure they 
had the right one. 

Elijah finished his meal comfortably, wiped his 
lips and arose. The eyes of Jabez and his wife were 
fixed on him, glittering with greed and anxiety. 

“May there be such a blessing on the next thing 
you do,’’ said Elijah, “that you shall do it forever!” 

In their wild joy, Jabez and his wife did not notice 
the difference in the wording of the blessing, and as 
soon as Elijah disappeared, she exclaimed: 

“Come, Jabez, let us count our gold till we are 
the richest people in the world! But first we must 
send out the servants and lock our doors and bar 
all our windows, so that no one may come and steal.” 

And so they flew about locking and barring doors 
and windows till every one was shut. When the 
whole house was completely locked they tried to go 
to the treasure box to count money, but behold, they 
could not take their hands away from the locks and 
bars! They could do nothing but open and shut 
the locks and push the bars in and out! 


50 


THE TWO BROTHERS 


Next day Simcha hurried over to rejoice with 
them, for he had seen Elijah enter their house. 
What was his amazement to find the doors all locked, 
and to see the forms of Jabez and his wife, half dead 
with weariness, standing at the windows opening and 
shutting the bars repeatedly! 

“Are you crazy, good brother he managed to 
cry out at last. Jabez, with many tears and real 
shame, told him the whole sad story, and swore 
that if God would only release him, he would be a 
blessing to all beggars so that his name would be 
remembered in the land. 

Simcha was full of sympathy and at once began to 
pray to God to release his poor brother. Hour after 
hour he prayed, and would not stop, until the heart 
of Elijah was softened. The curse was taken off 
from Jabez and his wife, and they were free! 

Stiff and weary, they climbed down, rubbed them¬ 
selves, hugged Simcha and ran to open their doors 
wide for all the poor and needy to enter. And they 
continued in their goodness until they died, and the 
names of the two pious brothers, Jabez and Simcha, 
became a proverb in the land, so that people blessed 
their children, saying, “May you be as rich and as 
charitable as Jabez and Simcha!” 


IN SYNAGOG 


When all the men are saying prayers, 
I hear another voice than theirs, 

I hear another voice that sings. 

And seems to have a hundred wings, 

I hear King David playing low, 

I hear the Jordan^s waters flow, 

I taste of Zion*s golden wine. 

And see the domes of Palestine. 


61 


THE WONDERFUL MAN 


There was once a man who was very strong and 
beautiful. All day he labored without pay for the 
service of mankind. He wrote wonderful books, 
and painted rich pictures in them; he built broad 
houses and palaces and planted fertile gardens and 
drove away enemies from the walls of the city; he 
also taught men and children the ways of God,— 
for he could do everything his neighbors needed of 
him. 

And for many years the man flourished and 
worked and was strong, and all good people loved 
and praised him, but all bad people were his enemies 
and hated and feared him. But alas! the man began 
to get so proud of himself and his greatness that he 
neglected his duties and gave himself up to pleasure, 
and forgot that his strength belonged to him only 
because God willed it. 

He did no more work, but drank wine and listened 
to music and slept long. And he grew weaker and 
his inspiration began to disappear, and his enemies 
waited in silent glee for their chance to get rid of 
him. And one night, after he had spent the whole 
evening in pleasure, and was sleeping heavily, they 

52 


THE WONDERFUL MAN 53 

leaped upon him and bound him with great ropes 
and dragged him away. 

And in the early morning they came down to the 
shore, where the low waves rocked a small sailboat 
on the beach. And they carried him down and 
threw him into the boat, and pushed it out to sea and 
went home rejoicing. And they drove out the people 
of his city and scattered them. 

Now this man was not an ordinary man, as you 
can see; every part of him, every limb possessed a 
separate life, and these were ruled by the will and 
mind in his head. But now, as the boat drifted 
along, and the man grew weak and sick with hunger 
and thirst, his mind lost almost all of its power over 
the rest of his body, and his limbs began to talk and 
quarrel among themselves. 

^‘This is terrible!’^ exclaimed the left leg. “The 
ropes are eating into my flesh, and I am dying with 
cramp.” 

“What about me?” said the left arm. “I am tied 
so tight that I have lost all feeling.” 

“I wish you would move,” groaned the right leg 
to the left. “You are crushing me with your 
weight.” 

“How can I move?” said the left leg angrily. 
“Am I not closely bound?” 

“And I, who am so used to exercise, imagine how 
I feel!” cried the right arm. “Oh, I wish I could 
get away and work by myself! I have done so 


54 


TEE WONDERFUL MAN 


much; I have written and painted and fought and 
built, I am an expert at everything; why should I 
stay here idle because my master was a fool?” 

‘‘That is a good idea! ” cried the other arm eagerly. 
“Come, let us detach ourselves and live alone! We 
are sure to be happier so; our master often made us 
do things we did not wish to do, but now we shall 
be free!” 

“Good!” cried the other limb. Just then the boat 
grated on land; the limbs began twisting themselves 
free from the ropes; and soon jumped off and wrig¬ 
gled away. And the man lay a cripple in the boat. 

He could not complain, for he knew he deserved 
his fate. But he wept bitterly for the pride and self- 
indulgence which had made him so weak, and with 
all his heart he prayed God to have pity on him, and 
help him regain his lost strength. 

And after many days God heard his prayer. He 
provided him with new limbs, much weaker and less 
skilled than the others, but the man was so overjoyed 
with them that he leaped out of the boat and went 
up to the land determined to build a new city and 
serve mankind as he had done before. 

The land was barren and deserted, but he was not 
discouraged; he set stone upon stone, and dug wells 
and planted seeds and tended sheep and invited all 
who passed by to help him and stay with him. And 
soon he had built up a new city and a new home. 

And as he lived there, group by group and one by 


THE WONDERFUL MAN 


55 


one the people of his old home drifted into the new 
city, until many of the people there were those of his 
own blood. And he began to feel happier and more 
contented. But the thought of the home he had 
lost was ever in his mind; he longed endlessly for 
it, and even though he was told that it was ruined 
and destroyed, he prayed eternally that God would 
let him go back some day and rebuild it. And still 
he lives in the new city and still he dreams of his lost 
home. 

As to his old limbs, those who did not wish to stay 
with him in his pain and distress,—they had forgot¬ 
ten that it was only by his head that they could be 
directed and only by his heart that blood and energy 
could come to them. And they soon perished 
wretchedly on the shore. 

Now you shall know the man^s name, and then 
you will understand all about him; he is Israel, the 
people of God; the new home which he has built up 
for himself is in America; the limbs are the faithless 
Jews, who have abandoned the community of Israel; 
and his old home is the land of Palestine, toward 
which he is still looking with longing and hope. 


SABBATH THOUGHT 


I wonder why the jaithfid sun 
Must always work so long; 

He never has a Sabbath day; 

It seems to me thafs wrong. 

But then, perhaps, God lets him stay 
And keep his shining mark. 

Because if he should go away, 

^Twould make our Sabbath dark! 


56 


AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 
WORLD 

See the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet! 

Oh, yes, they are very good friends now, but once 
upon a time, long, long ago, before the beginning of 
the world, they were very jealous of each other. 

You see, God was just going to create the earth 
by the power of His word, and all the letters were 
wild with longing to be the first letter in that Word! 
But they couldn’t all be the first letter, could they? 
And so, although God loved them all just the same, 
He had to choose which one would be the most suit¬ 
able. 

Now the letters had a great honor which even the 
angels envied them: they were the Crown of God. 
They were all dressed in fire and wore grand crowns, 
one for each ‘‘point”; Aleph, Ain, and Zaddeh had 
two crowns each, but Shin was proudest of all, for 
he had three crowns. And they all stood in a ring 
on a circle of living lightning, holding each other’s 
hands and marching round and round in a circle, 
singing beautiful songs to God. 

And now God was going to decide which letter was 
57 


58 BEGINNING OF THE WORLD 


to have the great honor of being first in the Word, 
and so they all let go of hands and flew down off the 
Crown, and came and stood before the Throne of 
God. And God hid His face in a cloud and spoke 
to them in the voice of an angel, and not in His own 
voice, for His own voice would have destroyed them 
just to hear it. And God said: 

“Now speak.” 

And the proud letter Shin flamed very bright, and 
its three crowns sparkled, as it cried: “O Lord of 
the Universe, surely you will create the world 
through me, for your own Name ^Shaddai,’ the Holy 
One, begins with me! ” 

And the other letters all bowed down. But God 
said: “That is true, but you are also the beginning 
of the word Shaw, which means a falsehood.” 

So Shin was ashamed and went away. Then Taw 
ran forward, saying, “O God, I am the first letter 
in the Torah: am I not the best letter to create the 
world?” 

“No,” said the Lord, “for you will be written on 
the foreheads of men as a sign of death.” And tears 
came into the eyes of Taw, and he stepped back 
again. 

“O Lord God,” then cried Samek, “truly I would 
be a good letter to use, for You are also called 
Samek, which means the Supporter of all who fall 
down.” 


BEGINNING OF TEE WORLD 59 

^‘But you are needed in your present place,” said 
God. 

‘‘I,” said Resh timidly, ‘‘am the first letter in 
Rahum, the Merciful, which is also one of God’s 
names.” 

“But you also begin the word Ra, which means 
evil,” answered the Lord. 

There was a silence for a while, and the letters 
hung down their heads. Then suddenly Kaf cried 
out: 

“O Lord of the Universe, I am the leader of Kis- 
seh. Thy Throne, Kabod, Thy Glory, and Kater, 
Thy Crown; surely I am the right one?” 

“Have you forgotten,” said the Lord, “that you 
are also the first letter in Kaf, which is despair?” 

“Thy Word, Dabar, begins with me,” suggested 
Dalet, shyly, “also Thy Justice, Din, begins with 
me.” 

“True, but My world must be a world not of jus¬ 
tice alone, but of mercy, too.” 

“I am the first in Luchot, the Tables of Moses,” 
began Lamed, waving his lofty head. 

“But the Tables will be broken,” God reminded 
him. 

And so, one after the other, the letters made their 
claims, but had to be refused, until only four letters 
had not spoken, and these were Yod, Heh, Beth, and 
Aleph. And God saw that Yod and Heh were stand- 


60 BEGINNING OF THE WORLD 


ing together, quietly holding each other’s hands. 
And God said to them: 

^‘Yod and Heh, why do you stand by yourselves 
in silence? Do you not wish to be the first letter 
of the Word?” 

Lord of the Universe,” said Yod and Heh to¬ 
gether, ‘‘we compose the letters of your own great 
Name which no one may utter, and no honor can be 
greater than that, and so we are content.” 

The face of the Lord shone more brightly through 
the thick cloud-veil, for these letters were the first 
ones who were contented, and He was pleased with 
them. And then He called Aleph, but strange to say, 
Aleph had disappeared, and could not be found. 

And only Beth was left, and God said, “Speak, 
Beth; what have you to say?” 

But Beth bowed low, and only said, “Boruch Ado- 
shem” (Blessed be the Lord), and would not say 
anything in praise of itself. 

And God was delighted with Beth, and said, 
“Truly, all the prayers which are offered up to Me 
begin with the word Boruch, which begins with Beth, 
and there is no evil word beginning like this. 
Therefore I choose you, Beth, to be the first letter 
of the Creation! ” 

And all the letters bowed down, and were not 
jealous any more. And they all joined hands and 
flew up on to the circle of living lightning which was 
the Crown of God, and the Almighty uttered the 


BEGINNING OF THE WORLD 61 


Word, and the world sprang into existence, so that 
far below them all the angels and the letters could 
see the blue sky floating over the round earth, and 
the rivers and streams running through forests and 
green meadows to the seas. 

The letters were full of joy and praise, and desired 
to sing loud songs of joy, but something was pre¬ 
venting them. They could not think at first what 
was the matter, till they remembered that Aleph 
was missing, and they could not form many words 
without Aleph. Just then they saw Aleph running 
through the darkness as if from a great distance. 

‘‘Aleph, Aleph, where were you?’^ said the Voice 
of God. And Aleph trembled and hung his head, and 
said, “O God, Lord of the Universe, forgive me! 
I could not think of any of my words which would 
make me great enough to offer my words to You, and 
so I felt ashamed, and hid myself from my brethren.” 

“Because you have been so modest,” said the Lord, 
“you shall be rewarded. And although Beth has 
been chosen for the first letter in the Creation (Bere- 
shith), you, Aleph, shall be the first letter in the 
Ten Commandments which I shall give My people.” 

And all the letters clapped their hands for joy, 
and Aleph came happily and took its place on the 
Crown, and the letters all sang their glorious songs 
to God. 


SUN-TIME 


Tomorrow morning I shall wake 
As early as can he; 

1 want to see the sun come up 
Behind the apple-tree. 

Each day he comes up from the east, 

And looks so fresh and fine, 

Perhaps it's 'cause he's just come back 
From happy Palestine! 


62 


THE TREASURE ACROSS THE 
SEA 

In the wealthy house of Jehudah Shimshon there 
was wailing and anguish. The willow trees planted 
outside under the carven balcony, in token of the 
power of death, were bending their slim, curving 
branches to the ground, like a woman weeping for 
her kindred; several black crows, a bird never seen 
before in that part of the country, were croaking 
as they hopped among the tall stone vases at the 
entrance to the wild, narrow garden. For Jehudah 
Shimshon, the generous and noble merchant, was 
dying, and his only son, the pious and learned Bar 
Shalmon, was weeping beside his father’s silken 
couch. 

The old hand of Jehudah Shimshon, with its fine, 
emaciated fingers that were the color of ivory, rested 
tremblingly on the warm dark curls of his son, and 
the faded eyes were clear as crystal with tears. Not 
that Jehudah was afraid to die; he had lived long 
and followed the law of God; he had traveled much, 
and been through many dangers; he had been 
wrecked on a desert island, and saved when nearly 
63 



“Arise!” he exclaimed in a terrible voice. {Page 74.)] 


64 
















TEE TREASURE ACROSS TEE SEA 65 


dead of starvation; his house had burned, and all his 
treasures had been stolen from him by the treachery 
of a relative, yet he had begun again and amassed 
an even greater fortune than before. He had lived 
the best life he knew how to live, and he was ready 
for death. But he yearned to feel that his son was 
protected from all the dangers and terrors that he 
had gone through himself; he could not bear to think 
that this strong, beautiful, learned youth might cut 
short his days by foolish risks and unnecessary 
adventures. 

‘‘My son,” he said at last. 

Bar Shalmon lifted up his head, but in the anguish 
of the thought that it was almost the last time he 
should say the word “father,” he could hardly bring 
himself to speak. 

“My son, I am leaving you great wealth. This 
house with a hundred broad chambers, with precious 
carpets and carven tables, with chests filled with 
silks and purple cloths worthy of a king, and a great 
treasure of jewels and gold—” 

“Oh, do not speak of it!” wept his son. 

“All this is enough, more than enough, for you to 
live on, and to marry and bring up children. Care¬ 
ful trading and proper employment of your wealth 
will make it even greater. Promise me, then, my 
son—” 

“Anything, my father.” 

“Promise me—” Jehudah^s voice failed, and he 


66 THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


lifted himself up in a last effort of fear lest he should 
not be able to say all he wanted. ^^Swear to me that 
you will never attempt a sea voyage, never for any 
reason—so that—” But Jehudah could say no more; 
murmuring with his voiceless lips the Shema Yis- 
roel, he died, even while his son was answering him, 
“I swear it.’' 

Time passed on, and Bar Shalmon’s grief grew 
gradually calmer. He remembered his father’s 
words, and in spite of the laughter of his com¬ 
panions and the surprise of other merchants—for 
this town was on the very shore of the sea, and its 
people were as accustomed to sea voyages as others 
were to riding horses—in spite of all, he refused to 
so much as set foot in a boat. Yet he loved the 
sea, and enjoyed walking along the shore and breath¬ 
ing in its warm, fragrant breezes, or watching the 
infrequent storms gather on the horizon, while the 
waters began to change color like a frightened slave 
under the angry, laboring countenance of the dark¬ 
ening sky. 

One evening, as he walked in his purple sandals 
on the golden sand, accompanied by some of his 
friends and followed by his servants, watching the 
broad sails of the numerous ships in harbor breath¬ 
ing deeply in the breeze, another ship came driving 
boldly through the violet mists that already hung 
upon the sea. Her masts were unusually tall, her 
curved prow was gilded and glowed dully in the set- 


THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 67 


ting sun, her full sails gleamed like silk. All on shore 
paused to watch her swift and steady flight, and no 
one moved away until she was seen to drop her 
brazen anchor, splashing a white whirlpool of foam 
in the dark gray sea. 

Now a small boat, all gilded and carved, was low¬ 
ered; several bronze-colored men wearing only 
white loin-cloths, descended into it, and with them a 
man of dignity, who wore a high turban and a long 
red beard that reached down to the waist of his em¬ 
broidered blue garment. Something seemed to hold 
all the watchers fascinated, while the boat raced 
along under the impulse of the many gilded oars. 
And soon the boat was at the shore; the brown men 
jumped out into the shallow water and pulled it in 
until the keel grated on the pebbly sand, and the 
man stepped out. 

He paused awhile as if in doubt, while Bar Shal- 
mon sent the young slave who stood nearest him to 
ask if he could be of service to him. The man 
spoke a few words to the slave, who soon returned 
and told his master that the man was a merchant 
who had come especially to see Bar Shalmon, and 
who respectfully desired the honor of an interview 
with him. The slave, although a strong-built, 
bright-eyed fellow, seemed to be seized with some 
kind of light, shuddering fit as he spoke, and his 
face was sweating. 

“Go back, then, and tell him I beg him to make 


68 THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


himself my guest,” said Bar Shalmon. But the 
slave, without speaking, looked up at Bar Shalmon 
with so strangely pleading an expression, that he 
felt uneasy, and observing how the young man 
shivered, he said: ^‘Go home, Zamir; you are sick. 
And, besides, it will be better manners if I go to 
meet this man myself.” 

Zamir disappeared like an arrow from a bow, as 
Bar Shalmon went forward to meet the merchant. 
The man’s dark, red beard glittered as if there 
were sparks hidden in it, and his long, black eyes, 
that had an upward turn at the outer ends, seemed 
also to have a reddish gleam. Bar Shalmon wel¬ 
comed him kindly, and the merchant thanked him 
in the language of the country, telling him that he 
was only an agent of Jehudah Shimshon’s, and in 
charge of some of the vast wealth which had be¬ 
longed to Jehudah abroad, and which now was the 
property of his son. Bar Shalmon. He told him 
further that this ship was laden with a few specimens 
of the jewels and other treasures of his father’s 
stores. 

Bar Shalmon wondered greatly that his father had 
never told him of this, but he thought that it was 
probably due to the fact that Jehudah did not wish 
him to travel in order to see them. 

‘^However,” he said to the merchant, “we can dis¬ 
cuss business later; at present you are my guest, 
and I beg you to come with me to my home. We 


THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 69 


had better hasten, for it is getting strangely cold.” 
And indeed it was as if the breeze had been dipped 
in ice, so that Bar Shalmon drew closer his richly 
lined cloak, and flung the end of it over his shoulder. 

They dined in one of the finest rooms of the house, 
whose floor was of colored marble, with walls of 
black marble. Silken couches were placed for them 
under tall, larged-leaved plants, washed with per¬ 
fume; the dishes were crystal and gold, and many 
slaves went silently in and out of the silver-barred 
doors with platters of rarest and most delicious 
foods. And all the time the merchant talked of the 
wonders of other lands, of the respect and love he 
felt for his dead employer, Jehudah Shimshon, and 
of the marvelous, strange wealth which awaited Bar 
Shalmon in foreign ports. 

‘Tndeed, you must pardon me,” said the mer¬ 
chant, “but when I see how unworthily you are liv¬ 
ing now, I cannot but feel regret for the vow which 
your father made you take.” 

“How?” said Bar Shalmon, with a slight blush 
and frown. “Does this household of mine seem to 
you unworthy? I beg you to excuse whatever you 
may find lacking; and if you will but mention your 
desires, I shall see that tomorrow—” 

“No, no, you mistake me,” replied the merchant, 
smiling. “For me, this is wealth undreamed of; but 
for your father’s son, it is nothing. If not for that 
vow of yours, you should see what true riches are. 


70 TEE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


You should see a treasure house full to the ceiling 
with jewels larger than my fist; all the smaller ones 
are scattered on the floor as not being worthy of col¬ 
lecting. There is a fan made of feathers of the roc, 
that mighty bird which is scarcely seen once in a hun¬ 
dred years; there is a garment woven of the golden 
hair of six princesses, given in ransom of their cap¬ 
tive fathers and bought by Jehudah Shimshon from 
the emperor who captured them; there is a miniature 
of the palace of King Solomon cut from one piece of 
ivory, and so complete that every tiny door swings 
on its hinges; it contains also thousands of tiny 
figures in imitation of the slaves, the women, the 
courtiers, and the King himself on his throne- 

‘^Truly, this is marvelous!’^ exclaimed Bar Shal- 
mon, his eyes gleaming and his cheeks flushing with 
excitement. ^‘Mere gold and silver is but dirt to me 
—but these miraculous things— Oh, I must see 
them! You must bring them here!’’ 

^‘Pardon,” said the merchant, gravely. “No one 
may remove them save the owner; this is a law of 
the country.” 

“I will give you a letter; I will write to the gov¬ 
ernment—” 

“Impossible. Quite impossible. You must come 
yourself or they must remain there.” 

Bar Shalmon bent his head, breathing he:./ily. 
His beautiful features were quivering; he pushed his 


TEE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 71 

hand through his dark curls, and remained leaning 
on his elbow. Presently the merchant said: 

^‘Your father accepted your oath, did he not?’’ 

“Accepted it? What do you mean?” asked Bar 
Shalmon. 

“He answered you; he heard you swear, and de¬ 
clared himself satisfied?” 

“Nay,” said Bar Shalmon, seriously. “I swore, 
but I do not know if he heard it. It may be that he 
died—may he rest in peace—before I could say 
the words.” 

“And is that a legal oath in your country?” said 
the merchant, smiling. “In my country the oatJi 
must be accepted before it is valid; in any case, it 
must surely be heard.” 

Bar Shalmon sat up with a sudden eagerness; he 
seemed about to speak, but controlled himself, while 
a sad and longing expression came into his eyes. 

“Well, say no more about it,” said the merchant. 
“In truth I am quite weary. Tomorrow you will 
permit me to show you the ship, and the few poor 
specimens of your father’s wealth which I have been 
able to bring.” 

Bar Shalmon, ashamed of himself for not foresee¬ 
ing how tired his guest would be after dining, imme¬ 
diately ordered some slaves to prepare a sleeping 
chamber, and as soon as the merchant had retired, 
he himself went to bed. His servants undressed 
him, and he lay down between the soft, cool sheets 


72 TEE TREASURE ACROSS TEE SEA 


to sleep. But all night he was possessed by visions 
of rare marvels and strange treasures that were his. 

In the morning, as soon as he and his guest had 
breakfasted, they went down to the shore and 
stepped into the boat, ready to be rowed out to the 
ship. But as Bar Shalmon was about to seat him¬ 
self, he felt an eager hand laid on his arm; he 
turned round, and there, with his feet in the water 
up to the ankles, stood the slave Zamir. He had 
been born in the household of Jehudah Shimshon; 
he had played with Bar Shalmon when they were 
both small, and he loved his master devotedly. Bar 
Shalmon impatiently asked him what he had to say. 

“Do not go with this man!” exclaimed Zamir. 
“He is evil—he—” 

But even while he spoke the slave's mouth became 
as if frozen; it remained open, without a word issu¬ 
ing forth. Bar Shalmon, looking at him, did not 
see that the merchant in the other end of the boat had 
fixed a fearful stare on Zamir’s face, so that his 
features were struck expressionless with horror. Bar 
Shalmon therefore flung off the slave’s hand, saying: 

“Did I not tell you you are sick? Go to bed, 
sleep, rest, and refresh yourself! My own doctor 
shall attend to you, and I will be back before noon.” 
And he turned around and settled himself on the 
cushioned seat of the boat, while Zamir flung him¬ 
self weeping on the sand. 

Within the hold of the ship. Bar Shalmon found 


THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 73 


treasures more wonderful and various than even 
those he had dreamed of; barrel after barrel and 
chest after chest, until his head began to spin. The 
merchant showed a strange carelessness, however, 
tossing things about, rumpling precious silks and 
dropping flawless jewels with a half-tired, half-con¬ 
temptuous air. 

‘Tt pains me, dear master,” he said at last, ‘‘to 
see you so enthusiastic over trifles like these, while a 
short journey of a couple of days would bring you 
into the possession of real treasures.” 

Bar Shalmon, resting on a barrel that was turned 
over on its side, raised his flushed face and brushed 
back his heavy, curling hair from his hot brow. 
He looked steadily, half-sulky, half-questioning, at 
the merchant, who continued, carelessly: 

“The oath was not accepted; in my country that 
is not a legal oath. However, be it as you please. 
My country is but a two days^ trip from here.” 

Bar Shalmon’s eyes opened wide, then half shut 
again. He murmured between his almost motion¬ 
less lips: “Set sail!” 

The merchant leaped to his feet; without his giv¬ 
ing a single order, the anchor was pulled swiftly in; 
the sails were blown full with a cold wind, though 
there had been hardly any breeze a moment before. 
The shore, opposite which Bar Shalmon had been 
sitting, grew swiftly more and more vague, shrunk 


74 TEE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


smaller and smaller, became but a blue line curving 
out from the horizon, and then disappeared. 

Bar Shalmon shook with unexplainable fear; he 
could not see the merchant anywhere. Gray clouds 
rushed along above him, yet so fast was the ship 
flying that the clouds were left behind. The waves 
were streaming in the opposite direction with driven 
speed; the few gulls that rose up at the prow were 
soon mere flickering specks, far in the rear of the 
ship. There was a deep, murmuring, rushing sound 
all about him. He attempted to pray, but he could 
not remember a single word of Hebrew. At last, 
he flung himself face downward on the deck that was 
wet with spray, and lay there breathing heavily. 

Many hours passed in this agony; it seemed to 
him that it grew dark, and, after a long time, light 
again, but he did not lift his head. At last he felt 
a strong quiver run through the deck of the ship; 
he heard a step, and the merchant’s voice, terribly 
loud, exclaimed: “Arise!” 

He turned on his side, and raised himself on one 
elbow, then felt as if he would shriek with horror, 
yet something restrained him. All about him the 
air was dark with flying creatures like men and 
women, but whose skins were dark red and whose 
eyes turned upward at the outer corners. Their 
bat-like wings were like dark, red, translucent 
leather, through which the sun glowed with an evil 
light. The merchant was utterly changed; his 


TEE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 75 


beard was of fire; a huge, pointed crown took the 
place of his turban; he had become more than twice 
his size, and his terrible wings beat slowly to and 
fro about his body that was clad in golden mail. 

Bar Shalmon felt himself gently lifted under the 
arms; he turned his head with a shudder, and saw 
two young demons at his sides, who were embracing 
him as they flew, so as to raise him up with them. 
In spite of his struggles, his arms seemed powerless 
to move, but rested lightly around the shoulders of 
the demons, who raised their pointed faces to him as 
they mounted, shaken with silent laughter. The ship 
was soon far below him, and rocked like a golden toy 
on the gray sea; they passed the sea, and were flying 
inland over tall, sharp-gabled houses and black 
woods whose thick clumps of trees seemed to look 
up like scowling faces; there were no rivers or 
brooks. From time to time the young demons who 
carried him gave a faint scream; one of them tore 
Bar Shalmon’s cloak from his shoulders and let it 
drop, floating slowly down behind him. At last they 
sank exhausted on the marble steps of a great palace, 
and Bar Shalmon, trembling and weak, leaned his 
head back wearily against the balustrade. 

As he rested the staircase disappeared; great 
marble walls, lined with pillars, seemed to grow up 
like mists around him; a tremendous throne ap¬ 
peared before him; crowds of gorgeously clad 
demons stood around him. A terrific form in golden 


76 THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


mail lounged on the throne, and on the first step of 
the throne was a couch on which lay something 
which seemed like a golden snake. 

“Bar Shalmon!” cried a voice from the throne. 

He could not answer. 

“What is the fate of him who breaks an oath to a 
dying father?” cried the voice again. And a deep, 
prolonged hoarse shout swelled up around him like a 
flood of sound: “Death and his soul!” 

Bar Shalmon raised his face; it was very pale, 
and his features showed pure white and beautiful as 
a flower in the midst of his dark curling hair. The 
golden snake on the couch at the foot of the throne 
seemed to ripple and writhe. 

“Lord of the Demons!” said Bar Shalmon, and 
his voice was strong and loud. “You have betrayed 
me, but it is I who have sinned. I accept your 
punishment. Kill me.” 

The demon king Asmodeus raised his right hand, 
long and brawny, and vibrant with strange, evil 
strength, but as he lifted it, the golden serpent shot 
straight up; something like a dark, small bird lighted 
on Asmodeus’ wrist, and Bar Shalmon saw that it 
was not a serpent, but a demon-girl, who had just 
placed her hand on the king’s. 

“Father, he pleases me,” she said imperiously. 

A shudder shook Bar Shalmon’s body, as the hand 
of Asmodeus slowly fell. The two demons at his 
side caught hold of him again, and brought him 


THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 77 


swiftly to her side; she was marvelously beautiful, 
in her terrible fashion, with long gleaming black hair 
braided with streams of jewels that fell heavily down 
her slim golden-mailed body. Yet as she took his 
hand, Bar Shalmon thought he would faint. 

“Will you marry him?” said the king. 

“I will,” she answered. 

“And you accept her?” 

Bar Shalmon, who was already betrothed, tried to 
say, “No, never!” but the words did not come. In¬ 
stead, he said, “Yes.” 

Strange to say, his life in the demon’s country was 
not as terrible as he had expected. The princess 
loved him passionately, and so all the demons re¬ 
spected and treated him as they would their master’s 
son. Asmodeus himself was kind to him for his 
daughter’s sake. But he longed with a mad longing 
that grew greater every day for the land of his birth 
and for the company of human beings. He thought 
with anguish of his betrothed, of his friends, and of 
the warning of Zamir. Worst of all, he could not 
pray a single word. 

Months passed in this way, when the news was 
brought him that a human being had managed to 
arrive in the country. Asmodeus was away, there¬ 
fore the man was dragged into the presence of his 
daughter, where she sat on the throne with Bar Shal¬ 
mon beside her. Bar Shalmon leaped up with wild 
joy when he saw a real human being; he ran down 


78 THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


the steps of the throne, and flung his arms around 
the prisoner; what was his amazement when he saw 
that the young man was Zamir! 

Zamir told how, dreading that some evil would be¬ 
fall his master, he had followed the ship at once in 
an open boat, but had lost sight of it almost imme¬ 
diately; how for many months he had been tossed 
about on the sea, sustained only by the small store 
of dried food and water that he found on the boat, 
until at last he drew near this terrible, rocky shore, 
where two winged beings descended on him and 
brought him hither. 

And as Bar Shalmon heard, he wept so passion¬ 
ately with longing to return home, that the prin¬ 
cess could not bear the sight of his grief. She tried 
to soothe him by promising that Zamir should be 
saved and treated well, if he desired to have him as 
a companion, although it was against the law for 
human beings to stay there. But he threw himself 
at her feet and implored her to let him go home for 
just one year, promising that he would surely return. 
At last, she said she would let him go, if he would 
swear to return in a year. He jumped up wild with 
joy, while the princess’ eyes swelled and grew hot 
and dry, for demons cannot weep. Sadly she kissed 
him farewell and Bar Shalmon and Zamir were car¬ 
ried on a couch of swans’ wings into the air, over 
the demon’s country, down to the sea, where a splen¬ 
did ship was already waiting. 


THE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 79 


With unspeakable joy Bar Shalmon descended 
once more upon the sandy beach of his own country. 
His friends ran with cries of gladness to meet him, 
and he was brought with pomp and shouting to his 
home. For a while he did not think of his promise 
to return; he only rejoiced in the present, and caused 
a magnificent banquet to be held for all his friends, 
and he would not let Zamir serve, but made him sit 
at his side. There was music and laughter and 
happy talk, until someone exclaimed, ^‘Now tell us 
just what happened to you all this while!” 

At this moment, another guest entered; he was a 
tall, gray-haired man, and with him was a beautiful, 
rosy-faced girl, whose eyes were glorious with de¬ 
light. The slaves led them to the head of the table; 
with a terrible pang Bar Shalmon saw his sweetheart. 
He greeted her tenderly, but could not bear to tell 
her all that had happened; that he had broken his 
oath, and that he must soon leave her; instead, he 
turned his eyes to Zamir with a look that the slave 
understood, for he at once respectfully offered to tell 
the story of their wanderings, if his master was too 
tired to do so. 

Bar Shalmon nodded, and Zamir briefly explained 
that the merchant’s ship had been wrecked; that his 
master had been held prisoner on an island, and had 
been released on the promise of a large ransom. 

The year passed like a week, but Bar Shalmon 
could not make up his mind to return. Zamir, who 


80 TEE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 


feared the wrath of the demons, implored him to do 
so; he reminded him of his oath, and even promised 
to return with him. But Bar Shalmon, whose days 
were now so happy in his beautiful home and in the 
company of his sweetheart, put it off again and again, 
and at last, in a fit of anger, told Zamir that he might 
go back himself if he had a mind to, but he. Bar 
Shalmon, would never go back. 

Zamir wandered sadly to the shore, not knowing 
what might happen now. As he lay on the sand, 
a queer dark cloud with something like a glittering 
feather in front was seen ascending from the hori¬ 
zon; it came nearer and nearer, and Zamir leaped 
up in horror; in the front of the cloud was the 
demon-princess herself; the cloud itself was com¬ 
posed of a whole army of demons! 

At that moment. Bar Shalmon, who was in his 
garden, felt himself drawn by an irresistible power 
toward the shore; his servants and friends, who 
desired to follow him, found themselves strangely 
held back. Alone, Bar Shalmon reached the beach, 
his embroidered cloak dragging half off his shoulder, 
his purple sandals stained with mud and sand, his 
face dull with fear. He did not show surprise at 
sight of the princess, who had descended and stood 
now upon the water, a little way from shore; he 
did not seem to see Zamir at all. 

Although he saw his master’s lips open and move, 
and the princess’ mouth open and move in reply, 


TEE TREASURE ACROSS THE SEA 81 


Zamir could not hear what was said. They spoke 
several times, but Zamir was unable to catch a single 
sound. Suddenly, he saw the princess’ demon eyes 
glow wild with fury; she sprang forward and laid 
her hands on Bar Shalmon’s breast. He pushed her 
away, and she drew back. She spoke again, with 
bowed head, and a strange look of triumph that was 
somewhat terrible, lit up Bar Shalmon’s face, till he 
seemed himself to have caught something of the 
demon expression. He stepped nearer to her; Za¬ 
mir would have thrown himself between, but he 
could not move a finger. Bar Shalmon, standing 
before the princess, bent his head down to her face; 
she looked up at him, her face leaped close to his, 
and she seized his lips with her own in a long kiss, 
then stepped away. Bar Shalmon stood perfectly 
still a moment, his head bent, then dropped for¬ 
ward, straight down upon the sand. 

With a long faint shriek of gratified rage the prin¬ 
cess spread her wings and darted into the air, and 
the demon army wheeled silently and flew along 
behind her. And the breaker of oaths lay dead 
upon the beach. 


FOR HEBREW SCHOOL CHILDREN 


I found a little perach, 

And it was so yofeh, 

I held it and I kept it, 

And would not throw it away. 

I put it in my sepher, 

On a picture of sodeh, 

And now my little perach 
Is happy there to stay. 

For though ky-itz is going 
From all the real sodeem, 

Still in my little sepher 

The hills and trees stay green! 


82 


THE FIRSTFRUITS TO GOD 


Minna! Minna! are you coming in? It’s get¬ 
ting dark!” 

‘‘All right, mamma! I just want to pour a leetle 
more water round my rose-tree’s foot, then I’m com¬ 
ing in.” 

Clasping her small green watering-pot close to her 
damp and crumpled apron, Minna soon appeared 
indoors; her shoes were full of gravel, her hair was 
sprinkled with leaves, and her round brown knees 
were all dirty with kneeling on the soil—only she 
would have said, “the earth isn’t dirty, it’s only 
brown!” Minna had a tiny plot in the garden that 
was all her own; and if every farmer tended his lands 
with the care and watchfulness Minna gave to her 
corner of ground with its one fine rose-tree, what a 
fruitful land this would be! 

Minna’s mother brushed the leaves out of her hair 
and dusted her knees with her handkerchief, and 
made her take off her shoes and shake the gravel 
out into the ashes (for Minna’s family lived in a 
little house in a little town, where they had fire¬ 
places and fires, instead of steam heat). 

83 


84 TEE FIRSTFRUITS TO GOD 


“Now, Minna, if you’ll promise to be very good. 
I’ll ask Dick to come to supper with us, because his 
mother’s going to the theater.” 

“Oh, yes, yes, do ask Dicky! I’ll be good!” ex¬ 
claimed Minna, jumping up and down. Dick was 
her cousin, and sixteen years old; he had sparkling 
blue eyes that always looked as if he were telling a 
joke; he lived next door, and helped Minna in her 
garden, and mended her toys and ran races with her. 
So soon as she had washed her hands and face she 
ran back into the garden and called over the fence: 
“Dick! Dick-ee! Come to supper with us! ” 

Dick nodded and grinned at her from the window, 
and in two minutes he was with them and sitting 
down with Minna and her parents and little 
brother, in the cozy dining-room. They were all 
hungry, and the food quickly vanished; and then, 
when they came to dessert, Dick suddenly said: 

“Oh, uncle—I almost forgot to ask; can I take 
Minna to the Shabuoth Flower Party our club is 
giving? I’m supposed to bring the Rose, and 
Minna’s tree will give some fine flowers, as usual, 
and she can wear ’em. I know she’s rather young 
but she’s tall for her age, and anyhow I don’t know 
anyone else so—so appropriate.” (He had been 
going to say, “so pretty,” but didn’t want to make 
her vain, so he used a long word that she didn’t 
understand.) 

Minna nearly choked on a spoonful of jelly, as 


THE FIRSTFRUIT8 TO GOD 


85 


with wide-open, pleading eyes, she waited for her 
father’s answer. 

‘‘Well, I think she wouldn’t be such a bad little 
rose, if you mind her thorns!” said her father, jok¬ 
ingly. “If you’ll bring her home early, and don’t 
let her get too excited, I suppose it’ll be all right!” 

“Oh, and papa, you know my rose-tree always has 
the finest flowers in the street! and there are five 
big rose-buds on it now! They’ll be all grown-up 
by Shabuoth, and I can wear them for a crown!” 

“What became of my old red silk party-cape, I 
wonder?” said her mother. “I’ll hunt it up and 
make you a pretty rose-costume.” 

Well, if Minna had tended her roses carefully 
before, imagine how she nursed them now! If they 
were babies she couldn’t have watched over them 
more. With her little brother Hillel to help, she 
watered them three times a day, cut off their withered 
leaves, and took out the stones and the worms from 
the soil near their roots. 

Gradually all the buds showed little red tops, then 
their green coverings cracked, and then the deep 
red petals unfolded, till a few days before Shabuoth 
five lovely roses were almost fully blossomed. By 
this time, too, the rose-dress was finished; it had a 
ruffled skirt and sleeves cut like petals, and when 
Minna put it on, her black eyes sparkling and her 
cheeks glowing with pleasure, she really looked, as 
her father said, “like the rose of Sharon.” 


86 THE FIRSTFRUITS TO GOD 


On the Shabbos before Shabuoth, the dear old 
Rabbi of the little Shool where Minna’s family went, 
told them why we keep Shabuoth; he told all about 
the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and 
then about the offering of the firstfruits: how the 
Jewish farmers of long ago would send wagons full 
of their finest and biggest vegetables and flowers to 
the Temple, to show their gratitude to God. The 
Rabbi talked so simply and so beautifully that chil¬ 
dren could always understand him, and so they loved 
to listen to him. 

“Nowadays, too,” said the Rabbi, “we can show 
our gratitude to God; not, perhaps, in the same ways 
as before, but by being unselfish, kind, and chari¬ 
table; by giving away what we care for most, if it 
will do good to others.” 

When they were going out of the Shool, they met 
the Rabbi; he spoke for a while to Minna’s parents, 
then turning to the children, he laid his hands on 
their shoulders, and said, “Little ones, don’t forget 
to bring some pretty flowers and leaves to help deco¬ 
rate the Shool for Shabuoth. You have such a nice 
garden, I know. Will you bring some—^nice ones, 
beautiful ones, fit for the House of God?” 

And the children smiled and promised. 

As soon as Minna got home, she ran to the gar¬ 
den to choose some lovely flowers. But somehow 
there were none in really good condition; the roses on 
the other bushes looked pale and ragged beside her 


TEE FIRSTFRUITS TO GOD 


87 


own beauties; daffodils were gone, so were sweet- 
peas, and the petals of the other flowers were brown¬ 
ish at the edges; sun-flowers were too large and bold¬ 
looking, with their dark centers and flaring yellow 
petals, and the bunch that Minna selected in her 
mind was a very poor-looking one. 

She felt surprised and sad, for she had never 
thought the garden was so poor; it seemed to have 
so many flowers when you looked at it, and yet 
hardly one of them was fresh and perfect when you 
saw it close. She scarcely said a word at lunch time, 
and when anyone tried to cheer her up by talking 
about the party, she looked just as sad as before. 

The next day, the Jewish women were all busy in 
the Shool; they had piles of flowers about them, in 
baskets, in boxes, and lying on the benches and on 
the Rabbi’s pulpit. Big Mrs. Cohen was stretching 
up to wind a long spray of shining smooth green 
leaves around a pillar, when a touch on her skirt 
made her look down. It was Minna, whose black 
eyes looked very pleading as she held out a bunch 
of magnificent red roses, and said, grew them my¬ 
self, and I brought them for the Shool.” 

“Oh, isn’t she a little darling! ” said Mrs. Cohen, 
and taking the precious roses, she dropped them on 
the bench among a pile of other flowers, and went on 
winding the leaves, while Minna ran home with tears 
in her eyes. But on the way, she thought how much 
lovelier her flowers were than any others there, and 


88 THE FIR8TFRUIT8 TO GOD 


she couldn’t help feeling proud to know how they 
would help to make the Shool look beautiful for 
Shabuoth. She came home rather cheerful after 
all! 

Her mother met her in the hall of the house. 

^‘Oh, Minna, here you are!” she exclaimed. 
“Minna, I don’t know how it ever happened, but 
somehow—all your roses have gone from the bush!” 

Dick and Hillie had just come in, panting from 
a race, and Dick burst out, “Oh, what a shame!” 
while Hillie lifted up his voice and began to howl 
with grief. 

“They—haven’t gone,” said Minna, “I wanted— 
I thought—the Rabbi told us to bring some beau¬ 
tiful flowers—and there weren’t any other good ones 
in the garden—and I didn’t want to give God all the 
bad ones and keep all the good ones for myself, so 
I took my roses to the Shool.” 

“You’re—you’re a good sport, Min!” said Dick 
at last. “But—weren’t there lots of flowers there? 
They didn’t really need yours, you know!” 

“Never mind,” said Minna’s mother. “She did 
just right, and I know the Rabbi’ll feel proud of 
her!” 

And when they went to Shool on Shabuoth, there 
was a special bunch of five magnificent roses on the 
Rabbi’s desk, and Minna was certain they were 
hers; she recognized them, she said. And that 


TEE FIRSTFRUITS TO GOD 


89 


made her so happy that when she went to the party 
that night her cheeks were themselves the reddest 
and loveliest roses that ever grew! But Dicky told 
her mother not to tell her that, or she might try to 
give them also to the Shool for a Shabuoth offering! 


THE SABBATH-KUGEL 


When the Sabbath-kugeVs hot, 
Steaming in the big round pot, 
And my grandpa comes to look, 
And he says, the finest cook 
Ever lived, is our grandma. 

And what lucky boys we are. 
Then I wonder what boys do 
When their fat her* s not a Jew, 
And their grandma doesn*t make 
Such a splendid Sabbath-cake! 


90 


THE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 


Long, long ago, on the outskirts of a large and 
beautiful forest, there lived a poor woodcutter. Al¬ 
though he could barely earn enough food for him¬ 
self and his family, he was a contented soul, and 
never worried, but was always grateful to God for 
the good things he had, and never thought about the 
bad things. He loved the wide forest very much, 
both when the sunlight came glittering through the 
thick leaves above, and when the heavy rain poured 
down and made the trees and grasses bend. 

So long as he had his little wooden hut and his 
dear wife and his five happy little black-eyed chil¬ 
dren nothing worried him, and he took his burden 
of wood in to the near-by town every evening and 
drove back along the dark road, whistling merrily. 

He never had any trouble selling his wood, for this 
town had a custom of celebrating every big occasion 
such as the prince’s birthday, or a rich lady’s wed¬ 
ding, or a visit from a neighboring prince, with a 
great fire in the market place. And the people so 
loved these beautiful bonfires in their pretty market 
place, that even if they had no real excuse for a 
fire they would make up one. And as for any cere- 
91 



One star began to glimmer in the sky. {Page 95.) 


92 






















































































































THE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 


93 


mony taking place without a fire!—it was not to be 
thought of, and many a great lady would rather have 
put off her wedding or her birthday than do without 
the celebration of a fire. 

So Itzchok, the woodcutter, never had cause to 
worry about his daily bread. And he was very 
pious, and always prayed at morning and night, and 
observed the Sabbath in the most religious fashion. 

But alas 1 a misfortune came at last. His wife fell 
sick, and grew so weak that she had to have all kinds 
of luxuries to keep her alive—chicken, and wine, and 
jelly, and fruits,—and poor Itzchok went almost wild 
with worry, trying to earn enough money to buy 
those things. He worked like a slave at cutting 
wood, and nearly broke his back dragging the heavy 
loads to town. And that was not all; when he was 
in town he would beg for extra jobs, such as sweep¬ 
ing before doorways or mending furniture or even 
washing clothes, just to earn a little more money, and 
sometimes, when a good-natured woman gave him a 
little delicacy of some kind to eat, he would save it, 
and bring it home to Dinah, his wife. 

So he managed to scrape along, slaving all week, 
and only resting on Shabbos, according to God’s com¬ 
mand, until one day a great piece of good luck 
befell him, and this is how it happened: 

One of the greatest ladies in the city, the daughter 
of the chief judge, was to be married, and naturally 
a huge fire was planned for the occasion. And what 


94 


THE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 


a fire! The celebrations were planned on such a 
large scale that six men had to go out to the market 
place with lumps of charcoal to mark the farthest 
points where the wood might be placed, lest in the 
enthusiasm the fire should grow too large and burn 
the people. And of course every woodcutter who sup¬ 
plied wood was ordered to bring every bit of wood 
that he could carry on the following Friday or Sat¬ 
urday morning, and double prices would be paid. 

Itzchok was wild with joy. He determined to 
keep it secret from his wife and children so as to 
give them a great surprise. 

All week Itzchok worked harder than ever, chop¬ 
ping and chopping till it seemed he had made up his 
mind to cut down the entire forest. And he stored 
up the wood day by day in his woodshed, till he 
had so much that he arranged to borrow a wagon 
from a neighbor to bring it in to town. 

And so Friday came at last. In spite of his ex¬ 
haustion, Itzchok could not help singing while he 
worked as he thought of the wonderful amount of 
money he would make. What chickens and cakes 
and bottles of rich, red wine he would bring back 
for his darling little wife, he thought. And perhaps 
he could even buy her a pretty dress to cheer her up. 
And there might even be a string of beads for little 
Miriam, or a new jacket for the biggest boy, who 
was now nearly twelve years old. 

And so he planned merrily on, never noticing how 


THE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 


95 


late it was getting. When at last he rested on his 
ax, and looked about him^, he was surprised to 
note how dim it was^ and decided to pack up all the 
wood on the wagon at once, so as to have plenty of 
time to get to town and back before Shabbos set in. 
Ah, what a Shabbos they would have! Why, he 
would be almost a rich man 1 

And so he ran to the woodshed, drove out the 
wagon, and began to load it. But it grew darker 
and darker, until, to his amazement, one little star 
began to glimmer in the sky. For the first time in 
his life, Itzchok saw the Shabbos star with terror 
and fear instead of with rejoicing. His fate was 
settled; the star had appeared, it was already Shab¬ 
bos, and he could not go to town with his wood. 

Imagine his grief and sorrow! Sitting on the edge 
of the wagon, he wept hot tears of shame and misery 
as he thought of the magnificent chance he had lost. 
And as he rocked himself to and fro, a little voice 
came up in his heart and murmured, ^‘Listen, 
Itzchok, it is a matter of necessity that you should 
go tO' town. What, is all your work to be wasted just 
on account of Shabbos? And think of Dinah, too; 
she is lying sick, and she needs good food— Why 
not go?’’ 

But with a shudder of disgust, Itzchok refused to 
listen to the idea. He made up his mind to it; he 
would simply have to go to town on Sunday, and 
be laughed at, and sell whatever he could at any 


96 


THE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 


price. And so he brightened up his face, by a 
strong effort, and went into the hut trying to smile. 
How glad he was he had kept it a secret from his 
family! And when he said his prayers he thanked 
God for keeping this disappointment from his wife. 

Now it happened that two little angels had been 
flying invisibly over Itzchok’s head, while he was la¬ 
menting, and they heard and understood the whole 
story. 

*^See now,^’ said the first one, who had blue wings 
tipped with silver. ^‘Is it not a pity that this good 
man should suffer for his religious obedience?^’ 

“Indeed it is,” said the other, whose wings were 
golden dipped in scarlet. “But how can we help 
him?” 

“I know,” said Blue Wings. “We’ll find the little 
rain angels and ask them to rain on the town so they 
can’t have their fire till Sunday, when Itzchok brings 
the wood!” 

“Splendid,” said Golden Wings. And so they 
flew about and collected a lot of little rain angels 
and told them about poor Itzchok, and they gladly 
promised to rain all Shabbos. And so they all met 
over the town early in the morning and started rain¬ 
ing and raining and the chief judge’s daughter in her 
golden wedding dress stood at her window and cried, 
and said she would not be married in the rain, and 
they must put it off until Sunday. And so it was 
agreed, and all the wood which was piled in the 


TEE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 97 

market place grew soaking wet, and no one thought 
of making 'a fire till the next day. 

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and bright, 
but Itzchok awoke with very gloomy feelings. But 
he put on a cheerful face, loaded his wagon and 
started off. He thought they might laugh at him, but 
if they would only buy at least part of his wood, he 
would try not to worry about the rest. 

Imagine his surprise when he came to the gates 
of the town, and instead of having to wait timidly 
to be let in, he was met with a shout of greeting! 
The chief judge himself was there and ran to receive 
the load, and asked him to name his price. For you 
see, all the wood of the other woodcutters had been 
spoiled in the rain. 

Itzchok was overcome with joy and amazement. 
He began to stammer out what he thought was a 
very big price, when the people who were unloading 
the wood suddenly shouted: “Just look, there seems 
to be no end to the wood! How did he ever bring 
so much?’’ For, you see, the angels had followed 
him and were adding more and more wood to the 
pile. 

“Itzchok, you are a wonder! ” exclaimed the judge. 
“Your God is surely with you, therefore take this 
bag of gold and stay to the festival.” 

Itzchok’s eyes were full of tears of joy and his 
heart was bursting with praise of God, as he took 
the bag. He would not stay for the great dinner. 


98 


THE PIOUS WOODCUTTER 


however, for his wife was sick and he must go to her 
as soon as he had bought all the good things, and 
besides, they did not have kosher cooks in the town. 
So he thanked them very much, and went away to 
buy a hundred different things, wine, and candles, 
and presents, and a live lamb, and cake, and toys, 
and dresses, and you can just imagine how his wife 
and children greeted him. Indeed, Dinah seemed to 
grow better on the spot when she saw his bright face 
and heard his story. 

And as they all thanked God for His blessings, the 
two little angels flew up to heaven singing hymns to 
the Lord, for they knew He was pleased with them. 


STARS AND CANDLES 


It seems to me, on Friday night 
The stars come out more big and bright^ 
And many more I seem to see, 

As though each star were turned to three,. 
Are angels walking in the air, 

And lighting Sabbath candles there? 


09 



The Rabbi stared at the seven bubbles hanging in the air 
{Page 108.) 


100 






THE SABBATH PEARLS 


In the market place of the capital city of an East¬ 
ern empire, Rabbi Soliman of the Jewish quarter sat 
beside his booth. He wore a blue and white turban 
wound round his head, a long gray garment, and 
pointed leathern shoes. He sat cross-legged on the 
ground, repeating prayers to himself, while his 
daughter waited on the customers. 

The market was crowded; all sorts of things were 
for sale. Bales of cloth, carpets, trinkets, food, 
veils, slippers—the row of booths and the crowds of 
brightly-dressed men and women passing among 
little hand-carts and donkey riders made the place 
look as if not so much as another thread of cotton 
could be squeezed in there. Suddenly the old man 
saw two Jews pushing their way through the con¬ 
fusion to his booth. 

‘‘Rabbi, rabbi,’’ they exclaimed, as soon as they 
reached him, “we are lost I” 

“Lost!” said Rabbi Soliman, “and how may that 
be?” 

“The Caliph has issued a terrible order. All the 
Jews in his empire are to be compelled to keep the 
Mohammedan Friday instead of the Sabbath. The 
101 


102 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


punishments Will be inflicted next week, if we ob¬ 
serve this Sabbath instead of this Friday.” And the 
Jew took off his turban and cast it on the ground, 
wailing. 

'^What is the penalty?” asked the rabbi. 

The Jew interrupted his mourning long enough to 
say, ^‘Death or expulsion.” 

The rabbi shut his eyes thoughtfully for a mo¬ 
ment. Then he said: ‘‘Do not be so distressed, 
friend. There is still time to go and see the Caliph. 
You know he is very greedy; perhaps we can buy 
him off. Today is Wednesday; by journeying across 
the desert we will save a whole day, and will reach 
the Caliph’s palace before the Sabbath sets in.” 

‘“Ah^ rabbi, I only hope we may succeed!” cried 
Tbn Daoud, but he picked up his turban, dusted it 
off, and put it on again. 

“Yes,” said the rabbi, “go and visit every Jew of 
wealth, and obtain from them whatever treasures 
they can spare for this worthy cause. Load the 
treasure, together with sufficient food and water, on 
three camels, and tomorrow we shall set off.” 

And the rabbi closed his eyes again and went on 
calmly praying and shaking himself and stroking his 
gray beard. 

Next morning he got up early, wrapped his white 
Sabbath garment, his Sabbath shoes, and embroid¬ 
ered turban, in a mantle, and went out to meet the 
camels, which were waiting, already richly laden 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


103 


with jewels and precious stuffs, and with the neces¬ 
sary food and the leather bottles full of water. 
The rabbi mounted his camel, his friends Ibn Daoud 
and Ibn Fadi mounted the others, and they set out. 

All went well until they came to the desert. The 
camels trotted along on their flat feet that made a 
squelching sound in the soft, deep sands. Far off 
they saw a dark spot, which they knew to be an 
oasis, where there was bright, fresh water, and a 
clump of palms growing in a peculiar way, first 
three, then two, then three, then two again. They 
traveled on, chatting hopefully, expecting to reach 
the oasis before night, and to sleep there under the 
palms. 

But in the eagerness of their discussions, they did 
not watch the direction they were taking. When the 
sun went down, they lifted up their eyes, expecting 
to find themselves very near the oasis, but to their 
dismay, it was nowhere to be seen. 

Their distress was great; not so much because 
of the water, for they had a good supply in their 
waterbags, but because they had lost their way. 
The rabbi cheered them up as well as he could, and 
they lay down to spend the night in the sand, 
wrapped up in their mantles. 

Next day they got up early, and began to look 
for the path. But ill luck followed them; all day 
they wandered about in the heat without finding 
their way. It was nearly night-time again before 


104 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


one of them perceived, with a shout of joy, the oasis 
with the peculiar clump of palms. 

They reached the well a little after dark; they 
"irank its water, and refilled their bottles, and ate 
the bread which they had brought with them and 
some fresh dates from the trees. As soon as the 
night was over, and the dawn came, they were up 
again, traveling as fast as possible across the desert. 

But no matter how fast they went, they could not 
make up the loss of a whole day. By sunset they 
were still a long, long distance from the end of the 
desert and the capital city where the palace of the 
Caliph was. The rabbi dismounted from his camel. 

‘‘Rabbi, rabbi,” exclaimed Ibn Fadi, “we have not 
a moment to lose, and you are descending from your 
camel! ” 

“Do you forget, then, what day it is?” said Rabbi 
Soliman, smiling. 

“Well, I know it is Friday night, but rabbi, this 
is a case of life and death; surely it is permitted to 
us to travel on the Sabbath in such circumstances! ” 

The rabbi shook his gray head. 

“I do not agree with you,” he said. “We must 
trust in God. If we ourselves break the Sabbath 
which we are fighting to keep sacred, how can we 
expect that God will help us? No, my friends; do 
as I do; descend, and rest, and tomorrow evening 
when the three stars are out, we may set out again.” 

Ibn Daoud looked at Ibn Fadi, and Ibn Fadi 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 105 

looked at Ibn Daoud. Their faces were gloomy and 
obstinate. 

“Rabbi,” said Ibn Daoud, “thousands of lives of 
Jews depend upon our reaching the Caliph before 
the end of the Sabbath day. We are going. Come 
with us.” 

“No,” said the rabbi, quietly. He unstrapped 
from his camel the mantle containing his Sabbath 
garments, and opened it. 

“Rabbi, we beseech you! If not, we will go our¬ 
selves.” 

“I cannot help it.” 

“But we will have to take your camel with us, 
because much of the treasure is loaded on it. Then 
you will not be able to get out of the desert, and it 
may be that you will die here.” 

“I trust in God,” answered the rabbi. “He will 
preserve those who obey His law.” 

“Rabbi, much as we love you and respect you, we 
dare not stay.” 

“Go, then,” said the rabbi, “and may you not re¬ 
gret it.” 

Weeping, the two men unstrapped the rabbi’s 
share of food and water, giving him also a part of 
their own supplies. They begged him to forgive 
them, which he did. Then they set off, leaving the 
rabbi alone. 

Rabbi Soliman sat down, shook out his white Sab¬ 
bath robe, and spread it carefully on the sand. He 


106 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


took off his everyday turban and shoes, and put on 
the embroidered turban and the shoes of fine soft 
leather. He changed his soiled garment for the 
fresh white one. Then he took out his water bottle, 
poured a little of the precious liquid over each hand, 
and began the Sabbath prayers. He faltered once 
or twice as he looked back towards the setting sun, 
and saw the three black specks traveling away 
against its bright red flood of light. But he quickly 
went on with his prayers again. 

He lay down on his mantle and watched the glo¬ 
rious sunset across the stretches of yellow sand. 
How great and beautiful were the works of God, 
he thought! Surely no evil would happen to him 
because of his devotion to His laws. 

It grew quite dark; the stars glittered brightly, a 
cool wind blew, and the moon arose, turning the 
sands into a stretch of silver light. Strange sounds, 
a distant howl, a sudden moan, the long sighing of 
the wind, made the rabbi tremble. He remembered 
the tawny desert lions that might be prowling near 
by; he remembered the dangerous sandstorms which 
sometimes arose in the desert, drowning travelers in 
sand; and as the wind blew strongly across his face, 
he shuddered. 

“Nonsense!” he thought, pulling himself together. 
“Is this trusting in God? Has He not done far 
greater miracles for His faithful ones than merely 
preserving them from death?” And the rabbi, after 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 107 

repeating his prayers, wrapped himself up in his 
mantle and lay down to sleep. 

He woke up suddenly. It was still night. What 
was this dark cloud that seemed to be rushing to¬ 
wards him from the horizon? It was like a waving 
mass of sand; it came whirling and twisting and 
throwing off sand, as if from a thousand arms and 
legs. It whirled nearer and nearer; the rabbi cow¬ 
ered, then sat up firmly, repeating the “Shema.” 

The thing whirled to his very side; it was a mon¬ 
strous figure, something like a human being in shape, 
but all made of sand, with long, wriggling arms and 
a pointed cap, and the face of a demon. It did not 
glance at the rabbi, who in spite of his strength of 
mind was trembling all over. It took out from some¬ 
where in its garments of sand a long Eastern pipe, 
and without ceasing to whirl and wriggle in its place, 
it began to blow into the pipe. 

A faint smoke arose from the bottle-end of the 
pipe; the smoke turned pure white, and formed into 
a kind of bubble. The demon shook it off the pipe 
as a child shakes off a soap-bubble; it rose a little 
way into the air and hung there. 

Again the demon blew; again the smoke ascended, 
turned white and was blown off. Seven times this 
was repeated, and the bubbles hung in a white semi¬ 
circle above the pipe. But the seventh bubble was 
much larger than all the rest, and hung in the center. 
Then the strange creature threw the pipe high up 


108 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


into the air, and went whirling and twisting away 
again into the distance, and it disappeared. 

Shaking with fear, the rabbi stared at the seven 
bubbles hanging in the air. Each one was like a 
moon for light and beauty. He stretched out his 
hand and touched one; it came off like a fruit from 
a tree. He plucked the next, and the next; until 
he had all seven in his lap; then he saw that they 
were pearls, of the most marvelous beauty and size. 
A flood of gratitude and joy rose up in his heart 
as he gazed upon his treasures. Then he gasped, 
and gazed at each more closely. What he saw nearly 
made his heart faint with its glory and wonder. 
Within each pearl was a vision of the creation, one 
day on one pearl, until in the seventh pearl the glory 
of the Sabbath itself was seen, with such miraculous 
beauty and blinding light that the rabbi fell on his 
face and worshiped God. 

When he raised his head, it was already dawn. 
He wrapped his precious pearls carefully in a fold of 
his turban, said his prayers, washed, drank, and re¬ 
freshened himself. He passed the day in such bliss¬ 
ful peace as no human being had ever felt. Won¬ 
derful wisdom and happiness came to him, and when 
at last the three stars glittered in the evening sky he 
felt as if he had been in Paradise. 

He said the final prayers of the Sabbath, changed 
his clothes again, and prepared to walk toward the 
other side of the desert. To his amazement, the 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


109 


desert suddenly began to fly past him on both sides; 
stretch after stretch, dotted here and there with 
oases and with bands of travelers, flew by with ter¬ 
rific speed. The next moment, he found himself on 
the roadway leading to a magnificent city, where 
the golden spires of the Caliph’s palace rose high 
above the domes and roofs. 

His heart sang with joy and confidence as he 
walked on towards the building with the golden 
spires. No one noticed him or stopped him as he 
walked past the magnificent gates, through marvel¬ 
ous rich gardens where grew every flower and tree 
and plant in the world, across marble terraces and 
up flights of many-colored stairs, through long, cool 
corridors whose walls were of precious stones hung 
with painted silks and satins. 

He found himself in a great chamber of wonderful 
magnificence. Here, on a divan of green silk woven 
with gold and jewels, reclined a man dressed in 
gorgeous robes, whose high white turban had a dia¬ 
mond as large as an egg fastening its delicate plume. 
Countless slaves, guards and servants stood about 
him; it was the Caliph himself. 

When the Caliph jumped up, startled, on his 
couch. Rabbi Soliman understood how he had come 
all the way through the palace without being 
stopped; he had been invisible. He bowed to the 
ground before the amazed Caliph, and begged to be 
allowed to speak. 


110 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


''In the name of Allah, where hast thou come 
from?’’ cried the Caliph. 

"I come from the hand of God, most illustrious 
Caliph,” replied the rabbi. 

The Caliph trembled as he said, "What message 
do you bring?” 

"First,” said the rabbi, "I bring these.” He took 
the pearls from his turban; at once the vast chamber 
was lighted up as if with glorious moonlight; cries 
and gasps of wonder and admiration were heard 
from every side. The rabbi respectfully handed 
them to the Caliph. 

The Caliph held the pearls in his two hands; he 
could not take his two eyes off them. He gazed 
and gazed as if under a spell, while the rabbi went 
on talking. 

"Great Caliph, these pearls come from God and 
not from man. In them you may see the wonders 
which took place when the world was created.” The 
Caliph nodded his head without looking up from the 
jewels. "You see that God hath chosen the seventh 
day for His day of rest. Let thy Hebrew subjects 
also honor that day in peace. The pearls are thine.” 

At last the Caliph looked up; the light of the 
pearls seemed to be reflected on his face. 

"I have done wickedly,” he said. "From hence¬ 
forth the Jews shall be more honored in my empire 
than those of our own Mohammedan religion.” He 
beckoned to one of his ministers. "Go forth and 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


111 


let it be known that we decree all honor to be paid 
to the Jews and to their Sabbath, and that anyone 
who interferes with them and tries to prevent them 
from keeping their day of rest shall die.” The min¬ 
ister prostrated himself, and hurried away with the 
order. 

‘‘Now,” said the Caliph, “you must stay and be 
my guest at a great feast which I shall have pre¬ 
pared for you.” 

But the rabbi shook his head. “Great Caliph,” 
he said, “my daughter will be waiting for me, and 
the Jews of our city will be in great fear and rest¬ 
lessness until I bring this news of your mercy. 
Therefore permit me to go back at once.” 

“Prepare my finest camel,” said the Caliph to his 
servants. “Put my richest housings upon it; load 
it with treasure, and provide it with the finest deli¬ 
cacies. Then see that this rabbi is led home in the 
greatest honor.” And so it was done. 

But as the rabbi traveled rejoicing down the road, 
on his magnificent camel, he caught sight of two 
weary men just arriving across the sands. They led 
a third camel at their side; they were worn, and 
dirty, and travel-stained, yet they hurried as if their 
lives were at stake. They were Ibn Fadi and Ibn 
Daoud. 

“Hold!” cried the rabbi. “Where are ye going, 
friends? I have already obtained the favor that ye 
were about to ask for!” 


112 


THE SABBATH PEARLS 


Ibn Daoud and Ibn Fadi stared up in utter 
amazement at the rabbi on his splendid mount. 
Then they knew that a miracle had happened. They 
threw themselves down on the ground and begged 
for his forgiveness. 

^‘Rise, rise!’^ exclaimed the rabbi. ‘‘Ye did not 
offend me, but God. Pray to Him for forgiveness, 
and He will grant it. Meanwhile, mount with me 
on this camel, and let us return in friendship.^’ 

So they came home again, and the marvelous 
story was told. The rabbi became famous and 
much sought after, but he remained modest and 
pious till the day he died. And in that empire the 
Jews forever kept the Sabbath in peace. 


A WISH 


I wish that sometimes I could be 
Away from town, beside the sea, 

And watch the waves come rushing by. 
And smell the sea-wind blowing by. 

And sometimes from the east would come 
The ships of Palestine our home. 

And one would stop beside the sand, 

And take me back to Israel's land. 


113 



The animals came as near as they could. {Page 117.) 


114 


































































































THE LEVIATHAN AND THE 
FOX 


The king of all the animals who live under the sea 
is Leviathan. He is bigger than five hundred ele¬ 
phants put together, and his breath is so hot that 
the water about his head is always boiling. His fins 
are brighter than the sun, and his eyes are like the 
hottest part of a fire. 

When Adam committed the first sin, one of every 
kind of animal had to be thrown into the water, not 
to die, but to be ruled over by Leviathan. You can 
be sure that the animals of the earth did not like 
this at all; they almost all hated the water, and liked 
to lie on the warm grass under the tall trees, not on 
shells and damp sea-weed under the cold sea. But 
it could not be helped, and they trooped up to the 
seashore, growling and complaining, but not daring 
to struggle. And the Angel of Death took them one 
by one and threw them into the water, and they 
becam.e sea-animals. 

The only one who made up his mind to escape 
was cunning old Fox. For a long time he hid among 
the other animals, stroking his whiskers with his 
115 


116 THE LEVIATHAN AND THE FOX 


front paw and planning. Then a brilliant thought 
leaped into his mind! He wagged his bushy red tail 
and grinned till he showed all his sharp white teeth. 

Then he went right up to the water where stood 
the dark Angel of Death, and he bent right over 
the waves so that the water curled around his paws 
and made him shiver; then he began to cry as loud 
as he could. He howled and howled, and the big 
tears ran down his cheeks. 

‘‘Oh, my poor brother! oh, my poor, dear, darling 
brother I he cried. 

No one took any notice of him; the angel was too 
busy, and the animals were too excited. So he took 
a rest, and then began again louder than ever. At 
last the Angel of Death could not bear the noise 
any more; he turned around and said: 

“Be quiet. Fox! Howling will not do you any 
good; into the water you must go.’’ 

“Oh, I don’t care what you do to me, but why did 
you throw in my poor brother, my dear, only 
brother!” sobbed Fox, and the tears kept pouring 
down his cheeks. But the angel had been too busy 
to notice just which animals had been thrown in, and 
he could not remember whether he had thrown in 
a fox or not. So he said: 

“What do you mean? Where is your brother?” 

“Look—here he is in the water,” said Fox, point¬ 
ing to his own reflection. And the angel peeped over 
the water; sure enough, there was the bushy tail and 


THE LEVIATHAN AND THE FOX 11? 


the whiskers and the little crafty eyes of the fox; 
so the angel, never stopping to think, said: 

^‘Well, what are you grumbling about? Do you 
want to take his place in the water? Be off with 
you, or I’ll throw you in too!” 

It didn’t take Fox three seconds to be running at 
top speed to his cave, and, when he got there, he lay 
on the warm, dry floor and rolled over and over with 
laughter, he was so proud of his clever joke! 

But the other animals down in the sea with Levia¬ 
than were wondering why Fox didn’t come down to 
join them, and knowing of old how crafty he was, 
they realized that he must have escaped by some 
trick or other. So they decided to go to King 
Leviathan and tell him how he had been cheated of 
one of his subjects. 

So they all went trooping off to the wonderful 
white coral cave of the king; the water there was 
all bright, quivering gold from the brilliant fins of 
Leviathan, and across the high roof were strung 
huge necklaces and ropes of pearls and many beauti¬ 
ful sea-stones. The curving walls were decorated 
with lovely and delicate shells, and the floor was 
covered with soft green sea-weed. On a throne of 
coral many miles wide sat Leviathan, and the water 
bubbled round his head. 

The animals came as near as they could, for it was 
terribly hot near the throne; then they bowed and 
said: 


118 THE LEVIATHAN AND TEE FOX 


‘^Oh, King Leviathan, do you know that there is 
one of the earth-animals who has escaped you?’^ 

‘‘What!” bellowed Leviathan, angrily. “Who is 
he, and how did he escape?” 

“He is the fox, and we do not know how he 
escaped; we only know that he is very crafty and 
wise, and if you will catch him and eat his heart it 
will make you even wiser than now, O King,” an¬ 
swered the animals. 

“Good, he shall be caught.” 

Leviathan called to him a tremendous fish which 
was lying near the throne, and said, “Go up to the 
shore, and wait till Fox comes near; then catch him 
in the way I shall tell you, and bring him here.” 
And Leviathan told the fish how to catch Fox, and 
the fish went up to the seashore. 

He had not been there long before Fox came stroll¬ 
ing by, waving his tail and very proud of himself. 
As soon as the fish saw him, he lifted up his great 
head, dripping with water that flashed in the sun, 
and said: 

“All honor and glory to your majesty I ” 

Fox whirled around in amazement, and exclaimed, 
“Why, Fish, what do you mean?” 

“I mean this,” said the fish. “Our king. Levia¬ 
than, is dying; he is probably dead even now. On 
his deathbed he said that there is no animal so wise 
and clever as the fox, who was able to deceive even 
the Angel of Death; therefore he decrees that you 


THE LEVIATHAN AND THE FOX 119 


shall be king after him and shall rule over all the 
animals in the sea.” 

Now there is a big difference between going down 
into the sea to be a subject, and going down to be a 
king, and Fox was very much impressed with the 
thought. 

‘‘Aha!” he said. “But this is a very good idea. 
Only, will I not be drowned in the water?” 

“Certainly not, your majesty,” said the fish. “The 
other animals were not drowned, why should you 
be? But if you command it, I will carry you on my 
back, for all the animals are now your servants.” 

“Good!” said the fox, very much pleased and 
excited with his new honors. So he jumped on to the 
back of the fish, and the fish swam swiftly away. 

But after a while, suspicion crept into the mind of 
the fox. How did he know that all this was true, 
and not a trap to catch him? 

“Fish,” he said, “I forgot to ask you something.” 

“What is that?” asked the fish. 

“Swear to me in the name of God that what you 
have told me is the truth,” answered the fox. But 
this the fish would not do, and Fox saw that he had 
let himself be fooled. He was terrified, and very 
angry with himself, but he already had a plan of 
escape. So he said: 

“Oh, well; I don’t mind going to Leviathan, so 
long as he does not eat me.” 

“But he wUl eat you,” replied the foolish fish. 


120 THE LEVIATHAN AND THE FOX 


^‘He is going to kill you and take out your heart 
and eat it.” 

Now Fox was thoroughly frightened, but said: 
“Oh, how sorry I am to disappoint Leviathan I 
It is too bad that I did not bring my heart along.” 

“What?” exclaimed the fish, stopping short, 
and turning his glassy eye towards the fox on 
his back. “What do you mean? Have you not 
your heart inside your body?” 

“Inside my body! ha-ha-ha! of course not! If we 
foxes carried our hearts inside our bodies a fine life 
we would have! Everybody would be always trying 
to kill us so as to eat our hearts and become wise. 
No, no, my heart is on the shore, in a big sea-shell.” 

“Oh, dear, what shall I do?” said the fish. “If 
I bring you without your heart I shall surely be 
punished.” 

“Don’t grieve, dear Fish, I can easily get my heart 
for you,” said Fox cunningly. “Just bring me near 
to the shore; I will lean over and get my heart with¬ 
out even jumping off your back.” 

“All right,” said the fish, and he turned round and 
swam back to the shore. As soon as he reached the 
land, he said, “Now Fox, lean over and get your 
heart, but don’t jump off my back.” 

But before he had finished speaking. Fox had 
darted off his back and was running with all his 
might through the woods to his cave. The fish 
waited long for Fox to come back with his heart, but 
neither Fish nor Leviathan ever saw Fox again! 


THE PRAYER 


When I was quite a little girl, 

We used to have a nurse 

Who sang the children fast asleep 
With one old Hebrew verse. 

She*d sing it, O so many times, 

While baby lay and smiled; 

We children always laughed to hear. 
She seemed so dull and mild. 

But now I know that little verse 
The sweetest ever made: 

*^The Lord my God, He is my strength; 
How shall I be afraid? 

**The Lord my God, He watcheth me. 
Through every night and day I* 

And still I say that little prayer. 
Though Pm so far away. 

Though nurse is gone, and baby's big. 
And others all forget. 

The little, tender Hebrew verse 
Is singing in me yet. 


121 


ALL SILK 


Leah had a mother. Not just any mother— 
though any mother is wonderful enough!—^but she 
had a special mother. You could tell that just from 
the way the little blue-eyed kitten looked up at her 
from the floor when it wanted milk. It would walk 
over quietly and gravely, plant its two front paws 
on her slipper, and turn up its furry black head— 
rather like a stranger staring at the New York sky¬ 
scrapers—and fixing its eyes innocently on hers, 
would give a tiny ^‘Mee-e! Meel” and then wait 
patiently for the milk that was sure to appear in 
the white saucer by the stove. 

All the children in the neighborhood liked to go 
up to Leah^s house, not only because “Mrs. Leah,” 
as they called her, always had a bit of apple-strudel 
or a sandwich for them, but because she was always 
glad to see them, and never said or looked, “Here 
come those troublesome children!” 

But don’t think that Mrs. Leah was an ignorant 
woman; no, she had been to public school and to 
high school, and she knew a great deal, and she used 
to tell the children stories about foreign countries 
and queer people and strange animals, and most of 
122 


ALL SILK 


123 


all about the Land of Israel, and the people who are 
God’s people. But though the children delighted 
as much in her stories as in her strudel, they some¬ 
how liked looking at her blue eyes and her happy 
smile more than anything else. And Leah some¬ 
times got jealous, and told them, ^‘Well, you can 
love her, but she’s my mammal” 

All through Leah’s public school days up to her 
present days in high school, Leah’s mother came 
first, before all her friends and best-liked teachers. 
She had no father, and her only brother, Abie, had 
gone away to live with some rich relatives in Spring- 
field, who had given him a good position in their 
cloak-and-suit house, where he did not have to work 
on Shabbos or holidays. Leah seldom went even to 
the movies unless her mother came too, and she 
missed her even when she went with the other chil¬ 
dren to parties and outings. 

Now Leah was promoted into a class where they 
began to learn dressmaking. She would bring home 
her goods, and her mother would take off the table¬ 
cloth, bring out the machine, and show her how to 
do everything. And Leah got along so well that the 
teacher promised to let her bring material and make 
a complete dress. 

Leah ran home, swinging her books joyfully; she 
hurried up the four flights and burst into the flat. 
Her mother was baking; the warmth made her fore¬ 
head sweat, and somehow she looked very tired. On 



124 


ALL SILK 


the table lay an opened letter. Leah^s good news 
somehow would not come out; she only kissed her 
mother, and said, ‘‘Who’s the letter from?” 

“It’s from your brother, Abie. He can’t come 
home for Rosh-Hashanah,” said Mrs. Leah, bending 
over to take the cake out of the oven. 

“Oh!” Leah felt a bitter disappointment, made 
more bitter by the knowledge that her mother must 
be feeling even worse. Why wasn’t her brother com¬ 
ing? She supposed he was having a better time with 
his rich relatives than he could have at home in the 
little flat! 

“I’ll write him, mother,” she said, angrily. 

“No, dear, not that way, anyhow,” smiled Mrs. 
Leah. “Write him a good, sweet letter, like a good, 
sweet little sister. That’ll be best!” 

Leah walked into her bedroom, too much hurt to 
answer. Why was Abie so selfish, when he knew 
how his mother and sister had been hoping and wait¬ 
ing for the holidays in order to see him? She felt 
she would give anything to comfort her mother. 
And then a thought struck her. She would not tell 
her mother anything about the dress she was going 
to make; she would take her saved-up money and 
buy some goods and make the dress—not for her¬ 
self, but for her mother! A blue dress, to match her 
lovely eyes; and then she would give it to her as a 
New Year’s present, and make her feel happy. 

She was so proud of her idea that she came back 


ALL SILK 


125 


smiling quite cheerfully, and she hugged and petted 
Mrs. Leah until she thought she must be feeling 
better. Then she went to her room, opened her 
drawer and pulled out her savings-handkerchief, and 
counted out the money. 

Oh, dear! She hadn^t thought it was only three 
dollars! What in the world could she get for that 
money? Mournfully she looked at the pile of coins, 
but they did not become any more numerous, nor 
turn into gold, as she was wishing they would. She 
picked up her newspaper, in the vague hope that 
perhaps some place was selling remnants of good ma¬ 
terial. She turned page after page. What was this? 
‘^Government Airplane Cloth. . . . Silk - Linen 
Weave. . . . Makes Dresses, Waists, Suits. . . . 
Dye It All Colors. . . . Sixty Cents per Yard. . . . ^^ 

Leah almost squealed for glee. Five yards at sixty 
cents—^just three dollars! She would dye it a won¬ 
derful blue, and then just see what a dress it would 
be! 

Next day, she returned from school with a green 
paper parcel and a packet of dye, which she hid 
under her mattress. She waited till her mother went 
out, and then set to work. Such a boiling and stir¬ 
ring and mixing and dripping! But in less than an 
hour it was done, all traces of the job were wiped 
out, and the goods were hung over the radiator in 
her room to dry. And while it dried, she wrote to 
her brother, and told him how sorry they were that 


126 


ALL SILK 


he couldn’t come, and told him the secret of the 
dress, with strict orders not to tell. 

Mrs. Leah did not know for a long time what hap¬ 
pened to an old red dress of hers; Leah had taken it 
to school to get the proper measurements. And in 
order to finish in time, she sat up at night in her 
little room, stitching away by hand, for she could not 
use the sewing machine while her mother was in the 
house. 

One, two weeks flew by; the dress was all sewed, 
and in the daintiest, strongest stitches. It was such 
a pretty dress, that Leah decided to embroider it, 
and so she did, with a design of Mogen Dovids and 
leaves in gold and green. 

And now Rosh-Hashanah was here. Leah’s heart 
ached to see how her mother pretended to be quite 
cheerful and glad, just as if it didn’t matter whether 
Abie came home or not. And erev yomtov she 
cooked and baked and made delicious soup, and 
cleaned the house with Leah’s help, and talked about 
the Hebrew heroes, and told Leah legends and 
stories about them while they worked. 

At last everything was done; the floors were all 
swept and washed, the closets tidied up, the dishes 
washed and dried, and the flowers put on the table. 
The sky grew dark, and the stars glimmered in the 
shadowy air. The white tablecloth gleamed, the 
polished candlesticks seemed waiting for the candles. 
Mrs. Leah sat down by the table, leaning her head 


ALL SILK 


127 


on her hand for a moment, in a weary way that made 
Leah feel sad. But then she sat up briskly, smiled, 
and rose to light and bless the candles. When she 
turned round, there stood Leah, smiling lovingly, 
and holding up a lovely blue dress, delicately em¬ 
broidered! 

And when Leah told her mother for whom it was, 
Mrs. Leah almost cried for pleasure, and wanted to 
know just how it was made. 

‘^And what kind of stuff is it, darling?” she asked. 
‘‘It seems so strong and silky.” (She would not say 
that it looked rather stiff and hard 1) 

“Why, mamma, it’s airplane goods, silk woven 
with linen. And I dyed it blue— Why, don’t you like 
it, mamma?” she exclaimed, for Mrs. Leah had sud¬ 
denly put the dress down. 

“Leah, darling, don’t be hurt, but—I can’t wear 
it. This is a mixed cloth, you know, and that’s 
shatnes” 

Poor Leah trembled; her eyes dropped, and filled 
with tears. 

“Why, mamma,” she said, almost sullenly, “I 
didn’t know you were so orthodox.” 

Mrs. Leah said nothing, but she took her little 
daughter in her arms and kissed her so tenderly 
that soon Leah’s heart was comforted. She felt 
that her mother knew how much love had gone into 
making that dress, and that was the chief thing. 

And then a big pair of arms closed around both 


128 


ALL SILK 


of them, while a jolly voice laughed: ^‘Too busy to 
hear me come in, eh? Well, here I am, anyhow!’’ 

It was Abie! Leah’s letter, so unselfish and so 
cheerful, had given his conscience such a prick that 
he had decided to surprise them, and to come home 
after all! Besides, what was a New Year’s party 
at Springfield compared to spending two days with 
his sweet mother and little sister? 

As soon as they had done kissing each other, 
he hauled a big valise on to the table, ruthlessly 
rumpling its snowy surface, and brought out boxes 
of candy, round baskets of fruit, pretty little pres¬ 
ents, and, last of all, a bolt of shining silk! 

‘‘You little goosie,” he said, to amazed Leah, “I 
knew mother wouldn’t wear that airplane stuff—it’s 
shatnes. So here’s this—all silk, and a yard wide— 
I got it out of our own stock—and there’s enough 
for both of you, Leah, if you divide it up right 
and don’t give it all to mother.” 

And when the Yomtov angel looked in at that 
little Jewish home, and saw them at their Yomtov 
supper, she could not tell who was the happiest per¬ 
son there. 



SABBATH EVE 


Shall I tell you why I call 
Sabbath evening best of all? 
Starry candles shed their light 
On the tablecloth so white, 

Holy Kiddush then is said, 

Papa cuts the holy bread, 

Then the soup is brought in hot. 
Golden, steaming from the pot; 

Everyone looks clean and bright. 
Every heart is glad and light. 
Pleasant, calm, and ftdl of rest. 
ThaVs why I like Sabbath best! 


129 



THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 


Rosie Rothberg and Harriet Cohn, who lived 
next door to her, were going to have a play. Con¬ 
sequently all the trunks, closets and shelves of 
Rosie’s home were being mercilessly rummaged for 
^^dress-up clothes.” 

“Ooh, mamma,” shouted Rosie, ^^can we have this 
old pink dress? And—look at this! what an aw fid 
waist!” 

Mrs. Rothberg stepped into the bedroom, and 
took the waist in her hands. It was of red taffeta, 
striped with broad bands of black and dark green; 
it was cut very high, with long puffed sleeves, and 
rows of small round brass buttons. Mrs. Rothberg 
looked at the horror, and smiled. Rosie burst out 
laughing, and then exclaimed, “Why, mamma!” for 
her mother’s lovely brown eyes were full of tears. 

So the play was forgotten, and Mrs. Rothberg 
sat down, with the waist in her hands, and told Rosie 
the story, while Harriet squatted at her feet and 
“helped listen.” . . . 

Poor Tibele! . . . 

Here she was, fifteen years old,—^no, sixteen, 

130 


THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 131 


nearly, and a high school girl, and would you believe 
it, she had not a single suit or dress and only one 
waist! She lived alone with her grandfather, for 
they two were the sole survivors of a large family 
killed in a terrible Russian pogrom, and her grand¬ 
father thought the stylish, short-skirted, low-cut 
clothing of the American girls was a sample of the 
sins which brought about the destruction of Sodom 
and Gomorrah. 

Tibele’s grandfather was a gentle, shrewd man; 
he could make the most ingenious little contrivances 
about the house; there was nothing he could not 
make with the aid of a piece of wire and a tooth¬ 
pick. A Menorah, all of twisted wire, and a pair of 
Shabbos candlesticks with funny little clawlike feet 
that always ran into you when you picked them up, 
bore witness to his craftsmanship and to his love 
of his faith. He often sighed when he thought of the 
noble brass candlesticks in the pawnbroker’s win¬ 
dow; they looked like the ones they used to have 
in Russia, and he was sure they were much more 
acceptable to God than those of his own make. He 
did not know that there is a special corner in Heaven 
for such as he. 

He had a pushcart, with slippers and patent 
leather belts, and his way of doing business was 
to sit down on a box in front of his cart, his glasses 
halfway down his long nose, his eyes drooping on 
to the rusty page of one of his Hebrew books, and, 


132 THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 


when approached by a customer, to assure her that 
he had sold her size yesterday, and didn’t have it 
any more. It was a determined customer, indeed, 
that got slippers from Reb Shlaime. 

The wonder was that he managed to make enough 
to keep up their two-room home and to send Tibele 
to high school. But he had hopes of her becoming 
a learned person, perhaps even a teacher, if God 
gave him life to send her to training school. Tibele 
hardly took seriously the idea of teaching. She did 
not feel she could endure for many more years a life 
in which a dress was a festival and a suit a dream of 
wealth. So she quietly went on studying her stenog¬ 
raphy and typewriting, and practiced putting her 
pencil in her hair in proper stenographic fashion. 

But today, on her way home from school, she 
stopped at her grandfather’s pushcart. The little 
gray head in the worn skull-cap did not lift, and the 
wrinkled finger with its broken black nail perused 
the small Hebrew print, while the nasal voice inter¬ 
rupted its monotonous undertone to ask, os wilt 
ihr? Slippers?” 

“Grandpa, dear!” said Tibele, almost laughing in 
spite of her rebellious mood. 

“Of, mein tochterl, mein ^eirelT Reb Shlaime’s 
wrinkled old face looked up, with a bright twinkle 
of love in the depths of his eyes. “Nu, leave your 
books here on the cart, and I’ll bring them home 
with me; why should you carry them?” 


THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 133 

‘‘No, grandpa, I need them to do my home¬ 
work— Grandpa! I want to go to work I ’’ 

“Go to work?’’ said the old man, bewildered. 
“How can you, when you haven’t finished with 
school yet?” 

“I don’t have to finish school; I mean, I can 
work other days, not school time. I’ve got to have 
some clothes! I can’t stand this any more! One 
waist that I have to wash out every night and iron 
every morning!—this old blue skirt! I need an¬ 
other waist and—more things—” 

“Hush, Tibele, hush. Work—^where will you 
work?” 

“I can be a salesgirl at Loft’s. They need girls.” 

“After school, Tibele?” 

“Oh, yes, just—evenings—” Tiebele paused. She 
opened her mouth and closed it again. 

“Evenings, nu. Was kan man tun? Not Friday 
evenings?” he exclaimed, with a sudden nervous 
fear. 

“Oh, no, grandpa!” But the deep old eyes had 
caught an expression of hasty relief that puzzled 
him. 

The fact is, that Tibele, thoroughly unhappy at 
high school because of her wretched poverty, had 
been asked by one of the teachers if she would take 
a job as extra girl at Loft’s. She had eagerly ac¬ 
cepted, her name had been sent in and she was to 
begin next week. She hugged the teacher for joy 


134 TEE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 


as she remembered a wonderful ecrue crepe-de-chine 
waist, so dainty and elegant, marked down to $ 4 . 95 , 
that hung in a store on Fourteenth Street. Perhaps 
Tibele should have thought first of helping her 
grandfather, but the fact is, that she didn’t—it was 
so very long since she had had anything new to 
wear I 

So she had gone down to Loft’s, just to look at the 
place, and was quite enchanted at the idea of serving 
behind that glittering candy counter. Then a 
chance word of one of the girls struck her as sharply 
as a blow—‘‘Saturday’s the hardest day.” Satur¬ 
day! Shabbos! Timidly she asked, was it pos¬ 
sible not to work Saturday? 

The blonde salesgirl stared at her, pushing a very 
yellow curl behind her ear. 

“Listen at that, will yer! Why, Saturday’s the 
most important time of all! You can stay out 
any evening you like without getting fired, but you 
just try staying away Saturday, and you’ll get the 
tin can!” 

Tibele walked slowly out, her books dangling 
about her ankles at the end of her strap. Bitter¬ 
ness and rebellion was in her heart. The visions of 
ecru crepe-de-chine waists—of any waists, of the 
smart brown pleated suit at Hearne’s—disappeared 
in a mist of tears. Then the thought came to her— 
need grandfather know? She had friends whom she 
had often visited on Shabbos, staying all afternoon 


THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 135 


and evening, and at Loft's she would have to work 
from one to ten. . . . On Fridays she could stay 
away from the store. 

She began to work. She got on well, for she had 
a pretty face, bright brown eyes, and a pleasant 
manner; she made an attractive salesgirl. Some¬ 
times good-natured men told her to keep the change, 
and she did. She was promised a raise. Then— 
Saturday came. And she went to work, and received 
her salary. 

The ecru waist would be hers! It is true she 
hardly dared to look at her old grandfather, placidly 
‘‘shockling” over his book in a corner; she stam¬ 
mered as she answered his questions about her 
friends. She turned her thoughts to the waist, which 
she would buy on Monday. 

But she could not keep her mind on it. Her eyes 
kept on wandering to her grandfather's kind face, 
bent so studiously over his beloved prayer book. 
Somehow Tibele remembered her babyhood in Rus¬ 
sia, and how he had taught her to ^^daven," and had 
walked seven versts back and forth every day when 
she had the measles, to get her a baby chicken to 
eat, and how he used to get bits of sugar from 
heaven-knew-where for her tea, when she “davened" 
nicely. 

She felt a bitter shame that even the dreams 
of pretty clothes could not drown. She laid her head 
on the table, and began to cry with all her might. 




136 THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 


She was tired out with her hard day’s work, and 
her heart was aching. 

Her grandfather started, and caught at his breast 
as if in pain. He came over to her, coddled her, 
kissed her, begged her to tell him what it was. She 
pushed her crumpled pay envelope, still unopened, 
into his hand. The old man was bewildered. *^Wos 
is, mein trost, mein kind?^* he wailed. 

With her head on his thin shoulder in its heavy 
coat, she sobbed out what she had done. The old 
man kept quite still; she glanced up; his eyes had 
a fixed look whose grief tore her heart. 

‘‘Grandpa—I’m so sorry—I won’t do it again— 
What are you doing?” 

Without a word the old man had torn open the 
envelope. Seeing the dollars, he shuddered, and 
slowly tore them to pieces. Then he got up, and 
went to the wall where hung the old National Fund 
Box; he took it off its nail, and began forcing it open 
with a scissors. Through the gashed mouth of the 
box poured a great stream of pennies, with a num¬ 
ber of nickels, a few dimes, and one great half- 
dollar. In spite of Tibele’s tears and pleadings, Reb 
Shlaime slowly and with difficulty counted the 
money; it made five dollars and nine cents—the 
fruits of a year’s loyal scrimping. 

“Tibele,” he said quietly, “here, this is yours, all 
yours. You must buy some clothes with it.” 


THE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 137 


^‘Grandpa! what do you mean? I can’t!” she 
sobbed. 

‘‘I command you, Tibele! Come downstairs with 
me now; the stores are still open.” He took her by 
the hand, shoved all the coins into his largest pocket, 
and in spite of her protests and promises, he led 
her into the nearest waist-store. He chose a waist, 
and asked her if she liked it, but she would not turn 
her head. The curious salesman stared at the weep¬ 
ing girl, at the grief-stricken old man, and at the pile 
of coins with which he paid; but he said nothing, 
wrapped up the waist, and then stood in the door¬ 
way looking after the bewildering couple. 

Once upstairs, Tibele began again to cry. By 
now, she understood the old man’s action, and even 
in her deep shame, she felt that he was right. . . . 
He wanted her to see that her faith was more 
precious than anything else in the world, and that he 
could make any sacrifice to point out that lesson 
to her. 

“And what happened then?” asked Rosie. 

“I never wore that waist,” answered her mother. 
“At least, not for a long time. When I was sixteen, 
I left school and got a job,—in a Jewish place. It 
didn’t pay very much, but the first five dollars I 
got’ I-” 

“Bought a pretty waist,” said Rosie decidedly. 


138 TEE WAGES OF REPENTANCE 


‘‘No; I put it in the National Fund Box. And I 
wore that waist to work.” 

“You wore it—at work?” 

“I wore it at work, and—I owe all my good luck 
to its hideousness, though dear old grandpa —alov 
hasholom —told me afterwards he had thought it 
was very pretty, with its shiny buttons and colored 
silk bands. But my employer couldn’t help remark¬ 
ing on it, and I told him the whole story. . . . And 
would you believe it, he cried! He always said that 
that was when he began to love me—” 

“It was papa!” squealed Rosie. 

“It was papa,” laughed Tibele. 


THE SEDER DISH 


Bring us in the Seder dish, 

Long hejore the meat and fish! 

Come, Charoseth, Moror too. 

Let us taste of both of you! 

Little bone that means a lamb, 
Egg that just like Isaac^s ram 

Takes the place of sacrifice. 
Come and make our Seder nice! 

IsnH Pesach simply fine. 

With the Matzoth and the wine? 

Here^s a seat for you and me! 
All sit down in company! 


139 





A LEGEND OF MOSES 


Once upon a time, many thousands of years ago, ® 
a great and wonderful star leaped into being. And it 
was so large, and its light was so deep and spar¬ 
kling, that even the presence of the moon near by 
could not cause it to be unseen. And it burned 
and shone, night after night, and the ancient peo¬ 
ples looked up at it in wonder, and exclaimed, “How 
great, how lovely, is this star I” 

And the star grew full of pride; it would not talk 
any longer to all its little brothers and sisters in 
heaven, and when they twinkled at it to say “Good 
morning, great brother!’’ it kept its light fixed on 
the earth, and would not look at them. 

And now the star began to feel that it was too 
great to be only a star, a plain star of heaven, 
and it went to God and spoke, “Hear me, O God!” 
and the light which was before the throne of God 
replied, “Speak, dear star.” 

God,” began the star, as it spread wide its 
great silvery blue wings, “O God, of all thy stars, 
is there a star wty)se wings are as large as mine?” 

The light before God grew a little dimmer, but 
it replied, “None.” 


140 



A LEGEND OF MOSES 


141 


, The star took a deep breath, and shone twice as 
brilliantly. ‘‘O God, is there any star as bright 
as I?” 

The light grew dimmer still, but answered, 
‘^None.’^ 

^‘Speak, then, O God, why am I but a star?” 

‘‘What wouldst thou be?” said the light. 

The star glowed with eagerness, as it answered: 
“O God, for many, many years I have watched 
the earth, and seen the men and women pass to 
and fro among their great palaces. They build, 
they labor, they move about, they live. O God, 
I would be a man!” 

The light was dim for a moment, then replied, 
low and sad: 

“Dear star, thou dost not know what it is to be 
a man. But since thou dost wish it, so let it be. 
Yet because thou art a great and beautiful star, so 
shalt thou become a great and beautiful soul among 
men. Men shall know thee by thy eyes, that thou 
art not altogether of them. And thou shalt lead 
them, and be their master. But be warned; thou 
art proud and hasty: if thou be proud and hasty 
among men, thou diest.” 

And the light vanished. And the star began to 
fall and fall, down and down through the dark air, 
past thousands of other stars that stretched their 
arms as if to save him, and then he forgot every¬ 
thing. 



142 


A LEGEND OF MOSES 


And so the star became a man. But wherever 
he went, something shone in his eyes, something 
beamed on his forehead, that made men pause, say¬ 
ing: ‘‘This is no common person, let us listen to 
him.” And he went among Jews, and spoke to 
them, and he was called Moses. 

Then because the Jews were slaves to Pharaoh, 
God bade him speak to Pharaoh to let them go free. 
But Moses feared his pride, and he said, “Let Aaron 
speak.” And Aaron spoke to Pharaoh and God sent 
down the plagues which Aaron told Pharaoh would 
come upon Egypt. And at last Pharaoh let free the 
Jews and the man Moses, whose soul was a star, 
led them out of bondage. 

And Moses remembered in his soul the words 
of the Divine Light, and he was mild and calm. 
When the people came to the Red Sea and could not 
cross, he called to the waters in the name of God, 
and he smiled, and the waters parted and the people 
crossed. And when he came to the wilderness, he 
prayed and the manna descended. 

Until one day the people thirsted, and they quar¬ 
reled, saying, “Moses, what hast thou done to us? 
We are dying of thirst and we shall never be saved, 
although thou didst promise to save us. And thou 
didst lead us away from Egypt, where we had food 
and water, with false promises.” 

And Moses grew angry, very angry, and he 
blamed the people and spoke in great passion, and 


A LEGEND OF MOSES 


143 


he took his rod and smote the rock where he stood, 
and commanded it to bring forth water. And the 
water streamed out, but it was salt, and the people 
could not drink it, and many of them died. 

And Moses wept, and he cried out, “I have for¬ 
gotten, I have forgotten!” And when the people 
came to the Land of Promise, Moses stayed upon 
a high mountain, and looked down upon the land, 
but did not enter. 

And afterwards he disappeared, and the people 
said he died, and mourned for him for many days. 
But God had taken him back to be a star again, 
forever to watch over the Land of Promise, but 
never to enter it. And still the star which was the 
soul of Moses shines over Palestine and calls to 
the people to come, to dwell in the land which is 
their own forever. 


FRIENDS 


In Bible class today I read 
How David got the gianVs heady 
And how brave Jonathan, his jriend 
Loved and helped him to the end 

I thought how splendid it would be 
If there were such a friend for me, 
And wondered whether Joe and I 
Could be such friends, if we should try. 


144 


WHY THE CAT AND THE DOG 
ARE NOT FRIENDS 


Did you ever see your pet pussy-cat running 
away as fast as she could from a big dog that was 
chasing her and barking? I suppose you were 
mighty glad when pussy dashed in at your door and 
you shut it hard, right in Mr. Dog’s face! And 
Mr. Dog barked for a while, and then he went away 
growling, and you thought, ‘‘What a wicked dog! 
I wonder why dogs don’t like cats!” 

But do you know, it was really all Mrs. Pussy’s 
fault, and not Mr. Dog’s fault at all, and I’ll tell 
you why. 

Very long ago—in fact, right at the time of the 
creation—the dog and the cat were very good 
friends. They used to go out walking together over 
the beautiful new world, admiring the pretty flowers 
and sharing everything they ate. 

Whenever Mr. Dog found something good to eat, 
he would say, “Won’t you have some of this, Mrs. 
Pussy?” and she would say, “Thank you, I will,” 
and then he would give her the biggest half, because 
that was the polite way to do it; and whenever Mrs. 

145 


146 


TEE CAT AND TEE DOG 


Pussy found something good to eat, she would say, 
‘Won’t you have some of this, Mr. Dog?” and he 
would answer, “Thank you, Mrs. Pussy, you are 
very kind,” and then she would give him the biggest 
half. 

So they always found enough for both of them, 
and were very comfortable, and thanked God for it. 

But at last there came bad times. There was a 
famine in the world, and nobody had any more 
bones or scraps to throw away or to give to animals, 
and poor Mrs. Pussy and Mr. Dog came very near 
starving. They wandered from place to place, but 
could find absolutely nothing to eat, and they began 
to feel very sad. At last, Mr. Dog said, “Mrs. 
Pussy, you are growing thin and pale, from not hav¬ 
ing any food; you must try and find some nice 
people who will take you into their house and feed 
you. But as no one will take two animals in these 
hard times, I solemnly promise you that I will never 
go to the same place as you, but to another home.” 

Mrs. Pussy felt very sorry that they would have 
to part, but she felt that Mr. Dog was right. So 
she said good-by to him, and went into the nearest 
house, which happened to be the house of Mr. Adam 
himself. Mr. Dog waited outside to see if they 
would let her stay. And Adam did let her stay, be¬ 
cause he knew she would keep away the mice. So 
when Mr. Dog saw Mrs. Pussy through the window 


THE CAT AND THE DOG 147 

lapping up some milk from a bowl, he was satisfied, 
and went away. 

Mr. Dog trotted along for a while, but it was 
already evening by now, and he had to find some 
place to sleep, for the nights were chilly. So he 
thought of his cousin, the wolf, and going to his 
cave, he knocked on the wall and called, ^‘Cousin 
Wolf, are you in?” 

Wolf gave a sleepy growl from way inside the 
cave, and said, “Yes, I’m in; who is it?” 

“I’m your cousin. Dog,” said Mr. Dog, as cheer¬ 
fully as he could. “Would you let me come in here 
to sleep?” 

“All right,” growled old Wolf; “come in, and . 
you’ll find a bone in the corner there.” 

There was very little meat on that bone, for Wolf 
had already gnawed it quite dry, but Mr. Dog was 
very glad to get it anyhow, and after gnawing it as 
much as he could, he cuddled down in a corner to 
sleep, after thanking Wolf very much for his 
kindness. 

But old Wolf had had an idea in his head when 
he asked Mr. Dog to come in and stay! It was just 
this: many times when Wolf was sleeping other 
wild animals would pass by in the night and try to 
come in, and he would have to get up and frighten 
them away; but now Mr. Dog would get up and 
drive them out while Wolf went on sleeping. So 
he grinned over his wicked old teeth and went to 


148 


THE CAT AND TEE DOG 


sleep. Sure enough, it happened just as he thought; 
along about midnight there was a snuffling and a 
growling and a tramping of padded paws outside 
the door; and Wolf snored as hard as he could 
and pretended to be fast asleep, while Mr. Dog 
jumped up and barked and ran out to drive the ani¬ 
mals away. 

But there were too many of them, and they bit 
him and tore him, and at last he had to run away 
and hide in a bush. When the animals were gone, 
poor Mr. Dog limped out of the bush and, not daring 
to go back to the wolf, made his way to the house 
of the monkey. But cunning Monkey only laughed 
at his sad story, and chased him away. 

So he wandered about, very tired and hungry, till 
morning, when he came to the house of Mrs. Sheep. 
Mrs. Sheep saw how tired he looked, and she said 
kindly, “Come in, Mr. Dog, and rest awhile, and 
I will give you some dinner and supper.’^ Mr. Dog 
thanked her very much, and came in, and she gave 
him a good bone with plenty of meat on it, and 
for supper she gave him milk, and then showed him 
a comfortable place to sleep. And Mr. Dog slept 
very well, till suddenly he heard a noise outside; he 
woke up and ran out, and there stood wicked old 
Wolf, licking his chops and grinning. 

“What have you done. Cousin Wolf?” cried Mr. 
Dog. But old Wolf wiggled his long red tongue and 
ran away laughing, and then Mr. Dog saw that he 


THE CAT AND THE DOG 


149 


had killed and eaten poor Mrs. Sheep. And Mr. Dog 
was very, very sorry, and he promised that after 
that all dogs would protect all sheep, and so they 
do to this day. 

The next night Mr. Dog went to the fox’s house, 
but Mr. Fox said, “No, no, I can’t have you here; 
I have to feed my little foxes and I can’t spare any¬ 
thing for you,” and Mr. Dog had to go away. He 
went to the deer’s house, but she, too, would not 
let him in. One after another he tried the ox, the 
goat, the ram, but no, they all said they could not 
take him in. He was in despair. 

In his wanderings, he did not notice that he had 
come back very near to the place where he had 
started from. As it was getting dark again, he 
came to the house of a man, and he wondered if 
he should try to go in and ask for shelter there. 
But he felt afraid, and thought they would very 
likely send him away, so he lay down in a bush out¬ 
side and tried to make himself comfortable. He 
felt very cold, and hungry, and sad. 

He was just going to sleep, when he heard a low 
growling noise, and a soft trampling and heavy 
breathing of wicked animals near by. He opened 
one eye, and saw two great long forms sneaking 
up to the house; they were tigers, and they were 
coming to eat the man’s children! He jumped right 
up, rushed to the house, and began barking at the 
top of his voice. In a minute the man rushed out 


150 


THE CAT AND THE DOG 


with his bow and arrows, shot the cruel, wild ani¬ 
mals, and killed them both. Then he looked around 
to see who had saved him, and when he saw Mr. 
Dog he was so pleased with him he told him to come 
right in and live there forever! 

You can just guess how happy Mr. Dog felt! He 
licked the man’s face, and they went in, and the man 
took him to a beautiful warm corner with some 
straw, under the steps, and brought him a big, fat 
bone to gnaw. Mr. Dog said the blessing and began 
to gnaw, when suddenly he heard a loud mewing 
and whining, and there stood—^who do you think? 
Mrs. Pussy! 

^‘You broke your promise! You broke your 
promise!” she said angrily. “Now you are coming 
here and there won’t be enough for me to eat!” 

“But I didn’t know this was the same house,” said 
Mr. Dog. “And anyhow Mr. Adam wants to keep 
us both. He won’t turn you out because of me! ” 

“No, no, you must go away,” said Mrs. Pussy, 
in a very wicked and selfish way. You see, she was 
so comfortable here that she was afraid to let any¬ 
one share things with her. So poor Mr. Dog had to 
keep his promise; he got up, and went to Adam, and 
told him the whole story, and said he would go at 
once. 

Adam felt very sorry, but he knew a promise is 
a promise, and must be kept. Then he had a bright 
idea, and he said, “Never mind, Mr. Dog, I’ll take 


TEE CAT AND THE DOG 151 

you over to Seth’s house, and he has children, too, 
and he’ll be very glad to take care of you.” 

Seth lived right near, and he took Mr. Dog at 
once, and gave him more bones, and promised to be 
very good to him. Seth’s children played with Mr. 
Dog, and they loved him, but he still felt sad some¬ 
times when he remembered how mean Mrs. Pussy 
had been to him. 

Still, the law commands us to forgive each other, 
and so he made up his mind he would forgive Mrs. 
Pussy, and when he saw her in the road he ran to 
her to tell her he forgave her. 

But Mrs. Pussy had a guilty conscience; and 
when she saw him coming she thought he was com¬ 
ing to punish her, and she ran away. Mr. Dog 
ran after her right up to the house, but she only 
grew more frightened, and dashed inside, and Mr. 
Dog had to go back. This happened many times, 
and at last Mr. Dog had to give up the idea. 

So the friendship was never made up again, and 
the descendants of the dog and cat have stayed 
enemies to this very day. 


THE SHIELD OF DAVID ON THE SYNAGOG 


All week I jeel so lonelyj 
Above the street so high; 
Only the stars,—my brothers ,— 
Come out into the sky 

But on the Sabbath evening. 

The stars I need not see! 
For all the Jews come streaming 
To synagog and me! 


152 


THE RABBI OF TORT OS A 


It was the first day of Pesach, 1421 , and the Jews 
of the old Spanish city of Tortosa were walking 
slowly out of their beautiful chief synagogue. But 
the spirit of Pesach did not lift the look of habitual 
dread from their faces; they were nervous, alert, 
and anxious, for they knew from experience that the 
festivals were often the occasion for more than ordi¬ 
nary persecution on the part of their neighbors. 
Only Rabbi Judah walked calmly, with a serene, 
firm countenance, towards his home; and a crowd of 
Jews kept close to him. 

The rabbi led his “seder-guests’’ through the 
narrow streets of the “Juderia,” among a wilderness 
of low, flat-roofed, dark little houses, whose walls 
had hardly any of those high square holes which 
were made, before the general use of glass became 
possible, to let in light and air. The doors were 
heavy, strengthened with beams of wood and studded 
with large nails, for protection against the frequent 
attacks of mobs. 

Rabbi Judah paused at last at a tall brick dwell¬ 
ing, in whose high doorway a smaller door had been 
made, so as to make it harder for strangers to enter; 

153 




“Escape?” exclaimed the Rabbi. {Page 158.') 


154 

























155 


THE RABBI OF TORTOSA 

beside the little door was a small opening with a 
grating that could be opened only from the inside, 
and when the rabbi knocked, a bearded face and a 
dark, keen eye appeared at the grating before the 
sound of turning locks and displaced bars was heard. 

But before the servant could begin actually open¬ 
ing the door, the rabbi’s face changed; he held up 
his hand, and called to the servant to let the door 
remain shut. His alert ear had caught the sound of 
angry voices and hasty, heavy footsteps of a crowd 
in the distance; his heart sank with horror, and his 
face whitened. 

‘‘Try to go quickly to your homes, friends, and 
lock yourselves in,” he urged. “Isaac, you must not 
open the door under any circumstances; put back 
the bolts and the bars, and tell my daughter I have 
not returned from synagogue. It may be nothing,— 
but—I will wait and see.” 

“Rabbi, go into your house,” begged a friend. 
But the noise of the crowd was heard nearer and 
wilder; the rabbi knew that they would make for 
his home first; and if they came while the door 
was being opened, what would become of his daugh¬ 
ter? So the group of pale-faced men stood like 
ghosts in their white gabardines, glancing up at 
the dark evening sky full of bright, warm stars, as 
if to pray God to stop the oncoming mass of en¬ 
raged Spaniards. 

Presently the mob burst into the street of the 


156 


TEE RABBI OF T0RT08A 


rabbi’s house; in their lead was a short, swarthy 
woman, with flying hair and tear-marked counte¬ 
nance. Her eyes blazed as she saw the rabbi, and 
she pointed angrily at him, exclaiming: 

^‘It is he! There is the villain that seized my 
child and slew him to use the blood for their vile 
ceremonies! Didn’t I see him give the boy a mara- 
vedi the other day, just to entice him away? There 
he is; seize him!” 

The scowling cursing crowd pressed round the 
rabbi and the few men with him; but now many 
other Jews had collected, and some had even left 
their houses in order to come and assist the rabbi. 
The bitterness and rage in their eyes, as well as 
the strength and threatening weapons of many of 
them, made the attackers pause awhile, and they 
were not sorry when the rabbi said: 

‘‘Good friends, neither I nor any Jew is guilty of 
such a crime. But I will go with you peacefully to 
the judge, and let him settle the case.” 

A cry of anger and despair rose from the Jews, 
for they knew what chance a Jew had of being 
cleared of such a charge. The Spaniards knew it, 
too, for they cried out: 

“That’s right! bring him to the judge! Poor 
Margharita, your little boy will be avenged now! 
Drag him away!” 

As they seized hold of his arms to carry him off, 
the rabbi gave one glance back at his house; at 


THE RABBI OF T0RT08A 


157 


the grating had appeared a small white face, soft 
and beautiful, but with dark eyes wide with terror. 
1 As he looked, someone within the house dragged her 
I from the grating, and the rabbi turned away with 
wet eyes, for he knew he was going to his death. 

In the courthouse, the judge pretended to listen 
gravely to the rabbi’s defense, but everyone knew 
that the Jew was condemned beforehand. And amid 
the rejoicing of the mob and the groans of the 
Jews, the rabbi was condemned to die for crucify¬ 
ing Margharita’s son, in order to use the blood, it 
was charged, for the Pesach ceremonies. 

He went bravely into the dark, miserable prison, 
with only his jailer accompanying him. Light chains 
were placed upon his wrists and ankles, and these 
were locked to a post in the wall. All this the rabbi 
had expected; the only thing that surprised him was, 
that when his foot slipped in walking, the jailer sud¬ 
denly put out his arm and steadied him. In his 
amazement he muttered broken thanks, but the 
jailer sourly told him to be quiet. 

The hours passed away, and the rabbi prayed 
continually, thanking God that he had been allowed 
to take the wrath of the mob upon himself, thus 
avoiding a general massacre. The tears came to 
his eyes only when he thought of his young daugh¬ 
ter Rachel, and he prayed that if only possible, with¬ 
out harm to her, he might see her just once more. 

He must have fallen asleep for a few minutes, for 



158 


THE RABBI OF TORTOSA 


he was awakened by the reddish flickering of a 
torch in his eyes; he blinked, and the next moment 
a small white figure was in his arms, and a sobbing 
voice was saying, ‘Tather, father—’’ Most strange 
of all, the jailer himself was holding the torch, and 
looking anxiously behind him to see if any rays of 
light were escaping around the huge shadow of his 
body. 

“Father, the jailer is Angelo— You remember, you 
were the only one who would lend him money when 
his shop burned and his wife was ill.—^And you re¬ 
member you wouldn’t take the money back from 
him—.” Angelo grinned shamefacedly as the rabbi 
lifted bewildered eyes, then suddenly irritable, he 
exclaimed: “Be done with all this business; you 
must hurry if you expect to escape alive!” 

“Escape?” exclaimed the rabbi. “But won’t 
they kill Angelo instead of me?” 

“Por dios!” answered Angelo in an angry whisper. 
“Do you take me for such a fool? Don’t you think 
I can invent a story for them? I’ll say the devil 
came and flew away with you. Now, come, come!” 
And while Rachel stroked his gray hair, the jailer 
quickly unlocked the chains, and dragged him out 
of the cell. He led them through endless corridors, 
so narrow that Rachel had to walk behind her 
father, only holding on to his hand; the walls were 
damp and cold, and slippery with moss. At last 
they stumbled down three steps; a cool breath of 


THE RABBI OF TORTOSA 159 

air blew in their faces, and they saw the moonlight 
glimmering on a stretch of water. 

^There,” whispered Angelo. “This is the shore 
of the river; my brother’s boat is moored here, ready 
to go down to the sea. Tell him I sent you; he will 
take you and bring you to a ship; then you can 
escape to France. Your daughter brought you this 
money. Here,” and he pushed a heavy purse into 
the rabbi’s faltering hand. 

As they spoke, a light, low boat swept in from 
the dark water and grated on the bank. A hooded 
figure sat at the prow; he waved his muffled oar 
with a peculiar upward motion, and the rabbi, after 
one last kiss to Rachel, walked quickly down and got 
into the boat. The figure pushed off, and the boat 
darted away without a sound down the river. 

Rachel, guarded by the two servants whom she 
had brought with her, went home with a heart now 
heavy with sorrow, now light with joy. Her dear 
father was gone from her, but he was gone to 
safety, not to death; in her relief it seemed she 
saw him before her, his bright eyes looking gladly 
at her from under his large, wrinkled forehead, and 
his warm hands were on her curly head as he gave 
her the Sabbath blessing. But when she got into 
the house at last, and felt herself really all alone, 
she flung herself down on her couch, and wept heav¬ 
ily, digging her fingers into the soft cushions and 
golden draperies; and so she fell asleep. 



160 THE RABBI OF T0RT08A 


She awoke at daylight, with a strange sense of 
a forgotten terror weighing on her heart; she felt 
that someone was sobbing bitterly near her; she 
raised herself, and looked around in wonder. Leah, 
her maid, was kneeling beside her couch weeping. 

^Xeah—what’s the trouble? it’s all right, isn’t it? 
He escaped, didn’t he?” 

“Oh, yes, mistress, yes, but—they have discovered 
it, and they are going to kill the jailer for it— And 
if the rabbi ever hears of it-” 

Pale with anguish, Rachel leaped up; she snatched 
a fresh veil from the wall, and ran down the narrow 
staircase. With her soft white hands she pulled the 
bars of the door out of their sockets, and lifted 
and tugged at the wooden protecting-beam until it 
was down. Then she pulled the heavy door open, 
and ran out into the street. 

She hurried through the dim streets until she 
reached the courthouse. In spite of the earliness 
of the hour, the judge was there, and an angry 
crowd, with fiery black eyes and furious looks. As 
soon as they saw her, they seized on her. 

“Ha—here is the villain’s daughter! Don’t kill 
the jailer. Don’t kill the jailer for the sake of a 
cursed Jew—kill his daughter instead! Burn her 
at the stake!” 

Rachel stood, trembling and sick with fear, but 
she answered boldly, “Yes, let the jailer go free. I 
did it—I pleaded with him, and it is my fault.” 



THE RABBI OF TORTOSA 161 

The triumphant crowd carried her breathless into 
the courthouse. 

“The Jewish creature confesses!’^ they shouted. 
“She bewitched Angelo—he didn’t know what he 
was doing! Did you, Angelo?” 

Poor Angelo, bound and pale, stood speechless. 
How was he to speak for Rachel without destroying 
himself, and leaving his family destitute? And it 
seemed to him that he tried to speak, but his tongue 
was paralyzed. 

“I will die,” said Rachel proudly. “My father is 
innocent. I saved him. I am satisfied.” 

“Very well,” said the judge. His cold eyes were 
fixed on the desk before him. “Let the woman be 
taken to the prison, in preparation for the stake. 
And then let all attempts be made to convert her 
to the true religion, before she commits her soul to 
hell.” 

“No,” said the voice of the rabbi, gently. “I am 
here.” 

The judge jerked up his head in amazement; 
Rachel turned, and stared blindly at her father, who 
said: 

“Did you think that I would let you die, or An¬ 
gelo? I was insane to let you persuade me to escape. 
Thank God that I came to my senses in time; I 
made them turn the boat back, and I came off. I 
am ready for judgment.” 

But the judge was silent. He was not a cruel 


162 


THE RABBI OF T0RT08A 


man; only he, like the rest of the Spaniards, hated 
the Jews, and thought it was a good deed to kill or 
torture them. Perhaps he remembered for a mo¬ 
ment his own daughter, selfish and cold and caring 
only for clothes and money, beside whom this Jewish 
girl seemed very noble. He opened his mouth to 
speak, but he was interrupted. Loud cries, mingled 
with shouts of laughter and incessant scolding voices 
of women, were heard at the courthouse door; then 
there was a loud slap, and the angry crying of a 
little boy rose up through the noise. 

And into the courthouse poured a stream of 
jostling, excited people, among them Margharita, 
flushed, weeping, more untidy than ever, vigorously 
slapping a little black-haired boy, who tore at her 
hand and kicked her in an effort to free himself 
from her grasp. But she dragged him up to the very 
desk of the judge, and shouted: 

‘^Here he is, the vagabond, the little demon; he 
has to take a ride down the river; he has to climb 
into Angelo’s brother’s boat and fall asleep under 
the seats; they should have trodden the life out of 
him! And me spending all my savings offering 
candles to the Virgin Mary for the repose of his 
miserable little soul! And if the boat hadn’t come 
back this morning, they could have carried him 
off to France, the—! Will you stop your crying?” 
and she gave him a heavy slap. 

The judge looked down at the strange group; 


THE RABBI OF TORTOSA 


163 


Rachel clung to her father as if about to faint. He 
supported her, and looked calmly and bravely up at 
the judge. He might yet, by the law for Jews, be 
condemned to die, and his daughter with him. 

“Remove the child,’^ snapped the judge at last. 
“Cease that noise. Rabbi Judah, you are guilty of 
having attempted to escape, to the prejudice of a 
servant of the law. Your daughter is guilty of help¬ 
ing you. You must pay a fine of three thousand 
ducats. The court is dismissed.’^ 

And as the father and daughter passed joyfully 
out, the judge sat staring down at the desk before 
him. He was wondering what his daughter would 
have done if he were in danger. 




EARLY MORNING 


Sometimes I wake before the dawn, 

When the sky is darkest blue, 

When the night is not quite gone, 

And the day not quite come through. 

Though iVs quiet everywhere. 

Quiet as can be, 

I never feel afraid,—I know 
God^s awake with me. 


164 


THE FIELD OF BROTHERLY 
LOVE 


When King Solomon, the wisest man in all the 
world, was about to build the great Temple, he could 
not decide which place in all his kingdom was most 
worthy to be chosen as a site for the holy edifice. 
There were many broad fields and lovely meadows 
which had some famous memory or pretty story con¬ 
nected with them, but none which he felt was spe¬ 
cially worthy of this great honor. 

One night, during the harvest time of the year, 
Solomon lay tossing on his silken pillows, unable to 
sleep. From the broad, arched windows he could 
see out into the fragrant shadowy gardens, where 
tall palms were quivering and roses waving in the 
warm breeze. Far-off nightingales were trilling their 
songs to the dazzlingly bright harvest-moon. And 
as Solomon listened, it seemed that the nightingales 
changed their song, and instead of singing the 
strange and unknown bird-syllables, they sang: 
^‘Arise, O Solomon, arise, and go to the field which 
is before Mount Zion.” 

And Solomon arose silently, and flung a dark 
165 



They looked up and nearly dropped with surprise. 

(Page 169.) 


166 



















































































THE FIELD OF BROTHERLY LOVE 167 


robe of satin around him, and took his favorite 
servant Benaiah with him, and they went forth. 
They walked with magical rapidity; the ground flew 
by them on either side as if they were riding on 
swift steeds. In a few minutes they stood on Mount 
Zion overlooking a large, new-mown field. 

Now, this field belonged to two brothers, one of 
whom was poor and unmarried, the other of whom 
was rich and had a loving wife and pretty sons and 
daughters. The poor one only owned a small part 
of the field; his house was narrow and unpainted, 
and his barn was no bigger than his house. The 
rich brother had a large and pleasant dwelling and 
two great barns that were now packed nearly full 
with his share of the sheaves of wheat. 

As Solomon and Benaiah looked down upon the 
field, they saw the door of the narrow house open, 
and the poor brother come quickly out. He looked 
about as if to see if anyone were looking, then he 
went and opened his barn, and taking out a bundle 
of sheaves, loaded them on his back and began stag¬ 
gering off to his brother’s barn. When he arrived, 
he opened the door with his own key, went inside, 
and deposited his gift, then came out and ran swiftly 
home to bed. 

Solomon was delighted at the man’s goodness; 
he saw that the poor man, being a bachelor, had 
decided that he did not need much food or money, 
and so wanted to give part of his share to his brother 


168 THE FIELD OF BROTHERLY LOVE 


who had so many children to feed; but he knew 
that his brother would not take it from him, so he 
had to bring it in secret. 

They went on watching, and now the door of 
the rich house opened; the other brother came out 
with a servant, and went and opened one of the 
barns and went inside. They both came out loaded 
with sheaves of wheat which they carried over to 
the poor man’s home; then they ran home. 

All was silent for a while; then once more the 
poor man’s door opened and he came out. He had 
decided that he could spare even more than he 
thought and was going to make a second trip with 
some more sheaves. When he opened his bam and 
saw that it was fairly overflowing with sheaves, he 
lifted his hands in amazement; then quickly loaded 
himself with as much as he could possibly carry, 
and walked, bent and staggering and very slowly, 
to his brother’s barn where he left the sheaves. 

But his brother had also been reconsidering his 
gift. ^Toor Haim!” he was thinking. ^‘He is poor 
and I am rich; and besides, I have a dear wife and 
loving children to comfort me, while he is all alone. 
I could have spared twice as many sheaves for 
him.” He had no peace till he got up again, roused 
his servant and went to the barn. 

They were very much surprised when they saw 
that the barn was as full as before; they quickly 
took up all they could possibly carry, and crossed 


THE FIELD OF BROTHERLY LOVE 169 


the field, bowed down with the weight, and left the 
sheaves in the poor brother’s barn. 

Solomon was so pleased, and so amused that he 
could not help laughing, and Benaiah, too. Imagine 
then, how they felt when, half an hour later, the 
poor brother’s door again opened, again Haim came 
out and went to the barn, again appeared overcome 
with astonishment, and again set forth with a 
heavier load of sheaves than ever! 

It was very near dawn now, and the sky was 
pale in the east; soon the red flush of morning ap¬ 
peared through the grayness of the sky. From one 
corner of the field came walking the poor brother, 
bent and slow, with a pile of sheaves on his back; 
from the other corner came walking the rich brother 
and his servant, both staggering under the great 
loads of wheat on their backs. All had their eyes 
on the ground, for their backs were bent. As they 
came to the middle of the field, both brothers, tired 
out with the night’s journeyings, set down their loads 
to rest; they looked up, and nearly dropped with 
surprise! They ran to each other and embraced 
most heartily, laughing very much to hear the tale 
of what had occurred. Then each one begged the 
other to accept the extra sheaves, but neither one 
would be persuaded, and they walked away, still 
arguing and pleading. 

But now Solomon arose and he and Benaiah went 
swiftly to the palace. And Solomon sent messengers 


170 THE FIELD OF BROTHERLY LOVE 


to the two brothers, to say that God had made him 
a witness to their acts that night, and that he had 
chosen the field where such devoted brotherly love 
had been shown as a fitting place for the site of the 
Temple of God. And he offered them a great gift 
of gold and silver in return for the field, which they 
gladly accepted. And so the Temple was erected on 
the field before Mount Zion. 


THE BEZALEL BOX 


My papa went to a bazar. 

Where all strange, curious presents are. 
And there a little box he bought, 

With wooden figures quaintly wrought. 
Where loaded camels with fiat feet 
Were passing in an ancient street. 

And men with beards and turbans high 
Were leading them and passing by. 
And by the well there stood a lion. 
And over him the star of Zion, 

And near him was a plough and ox. 

It was a most delightful box! 

And papa brought it home for me, 

And made me happy as can be! 


171 


IN NOAH’S ARK 


The day of the great flood had come; storms of 
rain were pouring down over the whole earth, and 
the waters were gradually rising higher and higher. 
Everyone was running up the mountains to try and 
save himself, but there was no escape for anyone, 
except for Noah, his family and the animals which 
God had commanded him to save. 

What a crowd there was around the Ark! Noah, 
his wife, his three sons, and the wives of his sons, 
were already inside, and now it was the animals^ 
turn; they came steadily running and rushing, till 
they were all inside. Yellow lion and soft, little 
white sheep, slimy green snake and big ugly croco¬ 
dile, plain little brown birds and birds with colored 
bills and bright red throats—every kind of living 
creature passed into the Ark, the clean animals by 
seven pairs and the unclean by two pairs. 

And what a noise they made—^growling and grunt¬ 
ing and squeaking and bellowing and warbling, and 
added to that was the shouting of the wicked people 
who wanted to climb into the Ark, but couldn’t. 

At last all the animals were inside; the door was 
closed, and the Ark began gently floating on the 
172 


IN NO AH ^8 ARK 


173 


waves. But you can imagine what confusion there 
was inside the Ark!—in the place where the ani¬ 
mals were, I mean, for of course they were kept 
separate. The lion was already feeling rather sea¬ 
sick, and he lay with his long yellow body curled up 
in a corner, panting and moaning, and yawning so 
wide that you could see all his great sharp yellowish 
teeth. The tiger went slinking up and down, snarl¬ 
ing and licking its jaws in a way that the poor 
little sheep did not like much, for it scared him. The 
elephant trumpeted dismally, and the black bull 
kept its head lowered and its horns ready, as if it 
were just waiting for a chance to toss somebody up 
in the air. 

In fact, they were all very nervous and irritable, 
and the noise they made and the way they fussed 
about everything, nearly drove Noah wild when he 
came in to feed them. Only one creature, the dove, 
kept quiet and did not annoy anyone else, for she 
was sorry for Noah and wanted to be a help and not 
a nuisance to him. 

Whenever Noah came in to give them food, the 
animals all jumped up and came around him, trying 
to seize the food from his hands, each one wanting 
to be first. He was kept so busy calming them down 
and dividing the food properly, that one day he for¬ 
got entirely to feed the dove, who was swinging and 
cooing on her perch and minding her own business. 

When she saw that he had gone without feeding 


174 


IN NOAH’S ARK 


her, she would not call him back, because she knew 
how tired he was. None of the other birds would 
share anything with her, so that when Noah came 
in the next morning he found her almost dropping 
off her perch with hunger and faintness. 

^‘Why, poor little dove! Are you sick?^’ he asked, 
anxiously. 

^‘Oh, no,” she answered. 

‘‘Then what makes you look so pale and tired 
today? Is anything the matter?” 

But the dove would not tell him that he had for¬ 
gotten to feed her, for she knew he would be angry 
with himself and would feel unhappy. So she did 
not answer him at all. 

“Well, little dove, here are some extra fine ber¬ 
ries for you, and I will bring you some milk, too, 
so that you may soon be better,” said Noah kindly. 

Now the black raven was very jealous when he 
saw what lovely berries the dove was getting, and 
he ruffled his wings and hopped up and down on 
his perch. 

“Caw! Caw!” he croaked. “The dove isnT sick 
at all, and she doesn’t need anything special to eat. 
You forgot to feed her yesterday, that’s all. Give 
me some of those fine berries!” 

“No,” said Noah, “she shall have the nicest food 
of all, because she has fasted so patiently. But 
you, greedy raven, must wait for your breakfast.” 

The raven was very sulky at this, and stretched 


IN NO AW 8 ARK 


175 


his feathers and “caw-caw-ed” till everyone begged 
him to keep quiet. 

For many, many days the Ark went on peace¬ 
fully floating, but at last Noah felt sure that the 
waters must be going down and the flood coming 
to an end. 

“Come,^^ he said one day to the raven, who sat 
as usual spreading out his black wings and admir¬ 
ing himself, ‘‘come, fly out of the window and see if 
the waters have gone down over the earth, so that 
we may go out of the Ark.” 

“G-r-roar!” growled the lion in his corner, mean¬ 
ing, “That’s right, hurry up!” for he had been sick 
all the time and was ever so anxious to get out of 
the Ark. But the raven croaked complainingly and 
answered, “Caw! Caw! You don’t like me! 
That’s why you’re sending me! Why don’t you 
send someone else?” 

“Why, nothing will happen to you! Just fly out 
and see if there are any mountain-tops visible; then 
I shall know if the waters are going down.” 

“Caw! Caw! I don’t want to go!” said the 
raven, turning somersaults around his perch. 

But then the lion got angry and roared so loud 
that the raven was scared, and at once spread his 
glossy black wings and flew out. He flew around 
and around over the great sea of water, but nowhere 
could he make out anything that looked like a moun¬ 
tain-top, for the waters had risen far higher than 



176 


IN NOAH’S ARK 


the highest mountains in the world. He was going 
back to Noah to tell him that he could not see any 
land, when suddenly he espied a body floating on 
the water, and he darted down and began to devour 
it, never thinking of the message he had to bring. 
When he had had enough, he looked around for the 
Ark, but it had floated out of sight. 

So Noah never got the message, and the days 
dragged by very wearily, till at last Noah decided to 
send out another bird. 

‘‘Who of you will fly out and see if the mountain- 
tops are visible?’^ he asked. “For I feel sure that 
the flood is going down.” 

The proud peacock pretended to be busy fixing 
his lovely feathers; the nightingale suddenly burst 
out singing; the partridge strutted away; all of 
them pretended not to have heard. But the dove 
flew on to Noah’s shoulder and said, “I will go.” 

So she spread her little white wings and flew out; 
she circled about over the water for hours, as long 
as her wings would hold her up, but she saw no land 
anywhere. She came back when it was growing 
dark, but she promised Noah that next week she 
would fly out again. So she did, and this time she 
brought back an olive-twig in her beak! For the 
waters had gone down so fast that not only the 
tops of the mountains were visible, but also the 
trees that grew on their rocky sides. 

Soon the Ark landed on Mount Ararat, and Noah 


IN NOAH’S ARK 


177 


looked down upon the earth below: the waters were 
nearly all gone from the land; the hillsides and the 
higher valleys were gloriously green and fresh; it 
was springtime everywhere. And up in the sky the 
gleaming rainbow had appeared—a sign of God’s 
promise never to bring such a flood again. 

By and by the waters had entirely disappeared; 
Noah and all his family, dressed in beautiful white 
clothes and singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, 
came out of the Ark, and after them came all the 
animals and all the birds, every one of them full of 
joy and hope. And before them flew the white 
dove with the olive-twig in her beak, and Noah 
blessed her, saying that she should always be re¬ 
garded as the messenger of peace and mercy. And 
so she is to this very day. 


STAR CHILDREN 


I think the stars upon the sky 
Are little children walking by^ 

And each one holds a tiny light 
To make the way to God more bright. 

I wish that God had put me there 
To walk upon the soft blue air, 

For of those lights Vd choose for mine 
The star that goes to Palestine, 

Fd hold it high o^er land and sea. 

And every Jew would follow me. 


178 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


In an old village in the heart of Russia they still 
tell a legend of long ago, which may perhaps be true. 
If you go there about Succoth time and ask them 
the story of Jesse and the Succoth bough this is 
what they will tell you: 

Many years ago, there lived a poor Jewish boy 
named Jesse. His mother was a very pious woman, 
who strictly kept all the commandments of the Law, 
and she brought up her son to do the same. She 
worked very hard so that her little son should have 
enough to eat. When he grew older, be became a 
woodcutter. Every day he went to the landowner’s 
forests, cut down a certain amount of wood, and 
received a few coins in payment. 

Now, although there were only two in the family, 
it often came very hard for them to make enough 
to buy food and pay rent for the little hut 
in which they lived. One year, when Jesse was 
about fourteen, they were very unfortunate. First, 
Jesse’s mother fell sick, and could not do her work 
of caring for the other women’s babies; then Jesse 
cut his foot and could not work for a month. By 

Succoth time they had no money at all. 

179 



Bright daylight greeted him. {Page 184.) 


180 


















THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


181 


Jesse wondered if they would at last have to go 
and beg, but he dared not mention it to his mother, 
for he knev7 she was proud and would be angry 
at the idea. But when he saw every one of the 
neighbors putting up a succah, and bringing in green 
branches which they had bought to cover it, he felt 
sad. For food, they could manage with a very little, 
but how painful it would be if they could not afford 
to buy some sprays to cover the succah this year. 

^Well, Jesse,” cried the neighbors, ^‘when are you 
going to cover your succah?” 

^‘Oh, in a little while,” answered Jesse, but he 
did not know when that would be. 

At last an idea occurred to Jesse. He would go 
to see the landowner, and ask him if they could 
take a few branches from his forest. But the land- 
owner hated the Jews, and when Jesse told him what 
he wanted, and what it was for, the man answered 
one single, dry, contemptuous word, “No.” So 
Jesse had to go away disappointed. 

It was the day before Succoth, and he had not 
the heart to go home and see the bare sticks which 
they had put up for a succah, waiting for their 
covering. This year the festival would seem more 
like a fast for them. 

He walked on gloomily through the forest, and 
finally flung himself down in a grassy space, en¬ 
circled with tall trees. The branches, their leaves 
just beginning to be tinted red and golden brown. 


182 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


waved in a moving pattern against the pale blue sky. 
With so many trees, and each one with so many 
branches, how could that mean landowner refuse 
them a few sprays, to save them from unhappiness 
and shame? After all, they were God’s trees, not 
the landowner’s. Why should he not take a few 
branches? Who would know? 

The sun was going down; it would soon be dark. 
Insects began to swarm up from the grass and to 
hum menacingly about his head; the grass felt damp, 
and the cool breeze made him shiver. The red 
sunlight made the bark of the old tree nearest him 
look rich and rough, and its leaves were like breath¬ 
ing gold. Jesse heard the far off bells of the herds 
returning across distant fields; the landowner and 
all his servants would be at their evening meal. No 
one would find him out. 

He approached the mighty oak, pressed his knees 
and his hands firmly into the trunk, and began heav¬ 
ing himself up. But when he came to the first 
bough, he leaned back in annoyance. The leaves, 
which had looked so green and fresh from the 
ground, were faded, dry, and brown. He climbed 
to the second bough, but as soon as he began to 
break off the crisp twigs, the leaves all floated away, 
and left the branch quite bare. 

What was the matter with this tree? He went on 
dimbing, hoping to reach the third branch whose 
foliage waved just above his head. But no matter 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


183 


how long he climbed, he could not reach the branch. 
He struggled higher and higher, till it seemed he 
had been climbing for an hour; then he glanced 
down. He was horrified to see that he was miles 
and miles above the ground! 

Yes, there he was, swaying in the air at the top 
of the tree, which had sprung up to a fearful height. 
Below him he could see the dark green mass of the 
forest, the little village on the sloping hillside, the 
big stone dwelling of the landowner, the gray undu¬ 
lating herd driven by a tiny peasant. 

Suddenly Jesse felt the tree beginning to bend; 
he clung frantically to the trunk as he swung out 
over forest and field. At last the treetop bent all 
the way to the ground and touched the earth. Jesse 
at once jumped off and ran with all his might. 
When he turned around, the tree had swung back 
again, and was lost in the far-off forest. 

Gasping with relief, Jesse sat down to rest. Every¬ 
where were rocks and low hills; not a bush or a 
weed grew on the bare, stony soil. It was so dark 
by now that he could scarcely see anything; he 
made up his mind to lie down and try to sleep until 
morning. 

He picked out the least stony place and lay down. 
But he could not rest; he tossed about on the hard 
ground, and at last he opened his eyes. Before 
him, a clear yellow light was streaming through a 
cleft in a large rock. 



184 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


Jesse winked his eyes in surprise; the light looked 
more like sunlight than anything else, but all the sky 
was dark except for a few shining stars. He 
stretched his legs, rubbed his eyes, and went softly 
over to the place where the light shone through. 

The cleft was larger than he had thought; he put 
in his arm, then pushed against the crack with his 
side; in a moment he had wriggled through. 

Bright daylight greeted him; he saw low hills 
that rose along the sky, covered with dark green 
vegetation; the air was warm, and smelled of fruit 
and flowers. In the valley, just below the rock on 
which he stood, a crowd of people were dancing and 
playing. The men wore strange, long, white robes; 
the women and girls were gayly dressed in many- 
colored garments; they wore jewels and ornaments 
in their hair, and bracelets of gold and silver on 
their pretty brown arms. Nearly all of them car¬ 
ried sprays of leaves, which they playfully shook in 
each other’s faces as they danced. Music of flutes 
and tambourines kept time gayly with their dancing. 

Jesse ran down to join them; he was sure they 
would not send him away, for they all looked so 
happy. But before he reached them, the whole 
crowd turned, and began running and tripping across 
the meadow. Soon they reached a sandy road, and 
went in a winding procession up the nearest hill. 

On the crest of this hill stood a wonderful city; 
its spires and domes glittered like gold in the sun- 


TEE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


185 


light; its white mansions gleamed among green 
gardens. From the walls of the city many people 
came out to greet the company; everyone wore 
fresh, gay clothes, and all, from the little children 
to the gray-bearded men, carried flowers and sprays. 

Through the wide-open gates of a garden Jesse 
caught a glimpse of the most splendid succah that 
he had ever seen. It seemed all made of flowers 
and branches, and was very tall and broad; birds 
flew about in it. A long table was spread within; 
it was covered with a white cloth, heaped with all 
kinds of rich foods and delicacies, and with bunches 
of flaming bright flowers. From the doors of a 
large mansion farther away, servants came carry¬ 
ing trays of food; they, too, were smiling and joking. 

The whole company passed in through the garden 
gates, and wound their way among the cool masses 
of trees and bushes towards the succah. Then they 
all took their seats, and Jesse, who had timidly fol¬ 
lowed them, looked about also for a seat. Right 
in front of him was an empty place, which strangely 
enough nobody seemed to see, for they all passed 
it by. Jesse took this place, and listened to the 
prayers and the festivities, and when the people 
began to eat, he ate also. 

Although everyone else exclaimed at the delicious 
smell and taste of the food, Jesse found that to him 
it had neither taste nor smell. Whether he ate the 
stuffed lamb, or the steaming soup, or the roast fowl. 



186 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


or the wonderful fruit, everything was quite tasteless 
to him. But he did not complain; he watched the 
others eating and drinking, and listened to their 
jokes and stories and singing in a language he could 
not understand, and felt a strange, sweet happiness 
stealing over him. 

The meal ended, prayers were once more said, 
and now the people began to dance and sing again, 
for there was plenty of room in that huge succah for 
all to move about freely. And as Jesse listened he 
suddenly recognized the language and the words. 

“Oh, I know where I am!” he exclaimed aloud, 
his face bright with joy. “This is Jerusalem, and 
they are celebrating Succoth as they did in the olden 
days! ” 

No sooner had he spoken than a sudden silence 
came over everyone. The gay music stopped, the 
laughter and talking ceased. All the people were 
staring, first at him, then at each other, and their 
faces were pale with fear. At last someone said: 

“Brother Joseph, you have not yet begun to dis¬ 
appear. Have I?” 

“No,” said the other joyfully, after a pause, “no, 
we shall not have to disappear! Do you not see 
that this boy is a pure soul ? Welcome, brother! ” 

“Yes, yes, you are right!” exclaimed many voices; 
and the people swarmed about him, welcoming him, 
patting his shoulders, and shaking his hands. 

“Tell us, who are you?” said brother Joseph. 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


187 


‘‘You see, we are spirits; we are allowed to return to 
earth at every great festival, and to celebrate it as we 
I used to do in the days of old. If a human being 
who is a bad person, finds us, we have to disappear, 
but if he is good, we may stay and finish our rejoic¬ 
ings. Now tell us who you are, and what we can 
do to help you.” 

“Yes, tell us,” exclaimed several girls, “for you 
know we are permitted to do wonders in order to 
help any good Jew who finds us. And we have not 
met anybody for so long, and we want to help you.” 

So Jesse told them who he was, and where he lived, 
and he told them about the sufferings the Jews were 
enduring in those days; the faces of the spirits grew 
very sad, and some of them wept. But when he told 
them that he needed branches to cover his succah, 
their faces lighted again. 

“Branches, branches!” they exclaimed. At once 
they began tearing down large sprays and boughs 
from the walls of the succah; some climbed on to 
the tables and pulled down big branches loaded 
with glossy foliage and with marvelous fruits such 
as Jesse had never seen before. They piled his 
arms so full that he looked like a walking tree, and 
they solemnly blessed the branches as they laid them 
in his arms. 

At last, when he could carry no more, brother 
Joseph said to him: 

“Dear little brother, you must go now; cover your 



188 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


succah, but keep one of these branches and plant 
it in your garden; it will be a blessing to you for¬ 
ever.’’ Then they kissed Jesse, and some of the 
girls wept to think that he must go back to a place 
where Jews were ill-treated. Before he could ex¬ 
press his thanks and say good-by, Jesse found him¬ 
self outside the rocks again, all alone, and the sun 
just dawning in the east. 

Could it have been a dream? But no, his arms 
were full of the splendid branches covered with 
leaves and fruit. His heart was wild with strange 
joy; he walked as lightly as a feather. 

Without really knowing where he was walking, 
he made turns in the road and walked across unfa¬ 
miliar meadows as if he were quite sure of the 
direction; and true enough, he soon saw before him 
the hillside, the little village, and the herds being 
led out to pasture, with the red sunlight rippling 
along their gray backs. 

He ran joyously up the hill; the first hut he 
reached belonged to poor Srul, with his half-built 
succah standing pathetically near by, as if it never 
expected to fulfill its destiny. Jesse stopped long 
enough to leave a pile of gleaming sprays at Srul’s 
door, and then ran on to his mother’s house. 

Although it was so early, she was all dressed, and 
looking anxiously out to see if he was coming, for 
he had not been home all night. When she saw 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 189 

him struggling breathlessly up with his load, she 
came running out to meet him. 

son! Where have you been? Wherever 
did you get such wonderful branches?’^ she cried. 

Jesse told her the whole story. She felt his fore¬ 
head as if she thought he might be feverish. But 
there were the splendid boughs 1 He could not have 
found them anywhere in the neighborhood; not even 
the landowner’s private garden had anything so rich 
and beautiful. Every leaf was glossy and perfect; 
the fruits were so large and fresh and luscious that 
she could hardly resist eating some. 

That night when the Succoth festival began, 
Jesse’s roof was the wonder of the whole village. 
The big fruits glowed with their own light, like col¬ 
ored lamps; the leaves had such a fresh, fragrant 
scent that it filled everybody with delight just to 
smell them. 

All the village came to look and to wonder, and 
Jesse’s mother was quite distressed. 

^‘Whatever shall I give all these guests to eat?” 
she whispered anxiously to Jesse. 

^^Just put all you have on the table,” answered 
Jesse confidently, for something told him all would 
be well. 

She therefore set out the black bread, the small 
herring and the boiled potatoes. She tried to apolo¬ 
gize for the poor food, but everyone cried out, 
Where did you get these rare delicacies?” and they 




190 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


all ate and drank as if it were a feast. And there 
was more than enough for all who came. 

When the feast was over, Jesse began plucking the 
fruits and distributing them among the guests, but 
no matter how many he plucked, there were still just 
as many left on the boughs. Never in the lives 
of all who were present was such a wonderful fes¬ 
tival! 

All through Succoth the branches remained as 
fresh and plentiful as on the first night. But when 
the last night came, and the feast was over, and 
the sun went down, the whole covering, branches, 
fruit and all, disappeared. Nothing but the bare 
wood was left. 

Meanwhile Jesse had planted one branch, accord¬ 
ing to the orders he had received. All year it 
remained in the ground, without increasing in size 
or bearing so much as one bud; but when Succoth 
came again, it suddenly sprang up into a great tree, 
bearing hundreds of boughs and marvelous fruit of 
every kind. And when the feast was over, it 
dwindled down to the one branch again, and so it 
went on year after year. 

From the time of the coming of the bough, Jesse 
prospered in all he did; he soon grew rich, and later 
on he married and built a beautiful house, but he 
built it in the same spot as the old hut had been, 
and he would not let the branch be moved. He 
always told the great and wealthy people who came 


THE SUCCOTH BOUGH 


191 


to see him about his former poverty, and the won¬ 
derful help which God had given him. When he 
died, his son’s son, and later on his grandson, lived 
in the house, and they told the story of the family’s 
origin, and luck and happiness followed them. 

But one day, more than a hundred years later, the 
man who was the owner at that time wanted to for¬ 
get the low birth and former poverty of his family. 
He mocked at the story of the bough, and said it 
was only a fable. To prove it, he moved away, and 
built a new house somewhere else, and left the bough 
in the old garden. But from that day on, troubles 
came to him; his ships were sunk, his forests burned 
down, and he lost all his wealth. At last he died, 
poor and alone, in a foreign land. His creditors 
tried to find the old house, and the garden, and the 
wondrous bough; but the house had fallen to ruins, 
the garden was overgrown with weeds, and no one 
could tell one bough from another. And that was 
the end of the Succoth bough. 




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